[P2P-F] Money and Magic

[mp]

on that note:

Ioan Couliano: Eros and Magic in the Renaissance [1].
Frances Yates: The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age [2].

[1]
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Renaissance-Chicago-Original-Paperback/dp/0226123162
- "It is a widespread prejudice of modern, scientific society that
"magic" is merely a ludicrous amalgam of recipes and methods derived
from primitive and erroneous notions about nature. Eros and Magic in the
Renaissance challenges this view, providing an in-depth scholarly
explanation of the workings of magic and showing that magic continues to
exist in an altered form even today.

Renaissance magic, according to Ioan Couliano, was a scientifically
plausible attempt to manipulate individuals and groups based on a
knowledge of motivations, particularly erotic motivations. Its key
principle was that everyone (and in a sense everything) could be
influenced by appeal to sexual desire. In addition, the magician relied
on a profound knowledge of the art of memory to manipulate the
imaginations of his subjects. In these respects, Couliano suggests,
magic is the precursor of the modern psychological and sociological
sciences, and the magician is the distant ancestor of the psychoanalyst
and the advertising and publicity agent.

In the course of his study, Couliano examines in detail the ideas of
such writers as Giordano Bruno, Marsilio Ficino, and Pico della
Mirandola and illuminates many aspects of Renaissance culture, including
heresy, medicine, astrology, alchemy, courtly love, the influence of
classical mythology, and even the role of fashion in clothing.

Just as science gives the present age its ruling myth, so magic gave a
ruling myth to the Renaissance. Because magic relied upon the use of
images, and images were repressed and banned in the Reformation and
subsequent history, magic was replaced by exact science and modern
technology and eventually forgotten. Couliano's remarkable scholarship
helps us to recover much of its original significance and will interest
a wide audience in the humanities and social sciences.

[2]
http://www.amazon.com/RC-Bundle-Philosophy-Elizabethan-Routledge/dp/0415254094/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321526315&sr=1-4
- "It is hard to overestimate the importance of the contribution made by
Dame Frances Yates to the serious study of esotericism and the occult
sciences. To her work can be attributed the contemporary understanding
of the occult origins of much of Western scientific thinking, indeed of
Western civilization itself. The Occult Philosophy of the Elizabethan
Age was her last book, and in it she condensed many aspects of her wide
learning to present a clear, penetrating, and, above all, accessible
survey of the occult movements of the Renaissance, highlighting the work
of John Dee, Giordano Bruno, and other key esoteric figures. The book is
invaluable in illuminating the relationship between occultism and
Renaissance thought, which in turn had a profound impact on the rise of
science in the seventeenth century. Stunningly written and highly
engaging, Yates' masterpiece is a must-read for anyone interested in the
occult tradition."


On 17/11/11 19:40, Sandwichman wrote:
> Timely: *Money and Magic: A Critique of the Modern Economy in the Light of
> Goethe�s Faust*. By Hans Christoph Binswanger. Chicago: University of
> Chicago Press, 1994. Reviewed by William Darity Jr., *History of Political
> Economy* 31:1 1999 (excerpt):
> http://ecologicalheadstand.blogspot.com/2011/11/money-and-magic.html
> 
> 
> 
> 
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