Page "Mythology" Paragraph 22

The anthropologist James Frazer saw myths as a misinterpretation of magical rituals ; which were themselves based on a mistaken idea of natural law.

According to Frazer, man begins with an unfounded belief in impersonal magical laws.

When he realizes that his applications of these laws don't work, he gives up his belief in natural law, in favor of a belief in personal gods controlling nature — thus giving rise to religious myths.

Meanwhile, man continues practicing formerly magical rituals through force of habit, reinterpreting them as reenactments of mythical events.

Finally, Frazer contends, man realizes that nature does follow natural laws, but now he discovers their true nature through science.

Here, again, science makes myth obsolete: as Frazer puts it, man progresses " from magic through religion to science ".