Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from A Study in the Psychology of Ritualism: A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Literature in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Philosophy)
A central problem of religion and morality, and one to which comparatively little attention has been given, is ritualism. -the object Of the present undertaking is a critical study from the point of View of the psychology of religion and social psycho-logy of this type of reaction, for the purpose of describing the laws Of its origin, development, and survival. The thesis which we Shall defend is that the type of reaction designated as ritual ism is always social, that it is performed to mediate practical control, and that it has a natural history in accordance with well-known psychological laws. It is, of course, impossible to examine every ceremony past and present, nor is it necessary, for we are interested less in morphological classification than in psycho-logical function. Modern scholars now generally recognize that all available historical and contemporary data point to the fact that, notwithstanding the differences in the stages of culture among men, the structure of mind and the laws of mental develop ment are essentially the same wherever man is found. The similarity in rituals and objects of worship among primitive peoples separated far in time and space has long been one of the conspicuous phenomena of the history of religion and is in striking Confirmation of the above. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
