James G. Frazer Quotes


The second principle of magic: things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed.


Citations

Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Macmillan, 1922, p. 11.

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James G. Frazer
James G. Frazer
  • Born: January 1, 1854
  • Died: May 7, 1941
  • Nationality: British
  • Profession: Scientist

Sir James George Frazer OM FRS FRSE FBA was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. His most famous work, The Golden Bough (1890), documents and details the similarities among magical and religious beliefs around the world. Frazer posited that human belief progressed through three stages: primitive magic, replaced by religion, in turn replaced by science.