Abstract
Despite initial appearances, Tyson’s essay is not about “practical magick,” that is, the kind you might come across upon at a book-handler of esoterica, or perhaps at your local Thelemite support-group. It touches on the persistence of belief in occult phenomena well into our so-called “disenchanted” age, and does give hints as to why “magic” has not died down as of yet. But more basically, this is an intervention of philosophical theology, one aimed firstly at the academic culture of materialist reductionism. The upshot of this reductionism, for Tyson, is that “magical meanings and higher purposes are no longer part of practical reality or academic knowledge,” with the result being that we “have cut qualitative and spiritual wisdom off from knowledge and power” (p. ix). In response to this, Tyson offers a brief, albeit suggestive, proposal for an essentially Platonist metaphysics of “non-scientific truths” (p. vii).
Highlights
One could supplement this story further by saying that magical beliefs have long coexisted with scientific discovery
In Lesson One, Tyson doubts whether the de-magicized narrative of contemporary culture can be sustained: that at one time we believed in the reality of occult forces and that we all know that thaumaturgy is a relic of a more hysterical age. Tyson thinks that this narrative conceals an unreflective dualism between “the outer world of factual scientific knowledge and practical technological power,” on the one side, and “the inner world of imagination, meaning, purpose, and value” (p. 3) on the other
The Inklings make an appearance, especially in regard to their theory that “imagination” can grant a more penetrating access to reality than positivism
Summary
One could supplement this story further by saying that magical beliefs have long coexisted with scientific discovery. The upshot of this reductionism, for Tyson, is that “magical meanings and higher purposes are no longer part of practical reality or academic knowledge,” with the result being that we “have cut qualitative and spiritual wisdom off from knowledge and power”
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