RESUMO
Developmental studies have shown that children assign purpose to objects more liberally than adults, and that they explain biological processes in terms of vitalistic causality. This study tested the hypothesis that similar misconceptions can be found among superstitious adults. The results from 116 superstitious and 123 sceptical individuals showed that more than sceptics, superstitious individuals attributed purpose to objects, and explained biological processes in terms of organ intentionality and energy transmission. In addition, they thought of energy as a vital force, attributing life and mental properties to it. These conceptual confusions were positively associated to all types of superstitions as well as belief in alternative medicine. The results support the argument that category mistakes and ontological confusions underlie superstitious and vitalistic thinking.
Assuntos
Cultura , Superstições , Vitalismo , Adolescente , Adulto , Formação de Conceito , Transferência de Energia , Feminino , Humanos , Intenção , Intuição , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Qi , PensamentoRESUMO
Between 1724 and 1760, in the frontier area of the Habsburg empire waves of a hitherto unknown epidemic disease emerged: vampirism. In remote villages of southeastern Europe, cases of unusual deaths were reported. Corpses did not decay and, according to the villagers, corporeal ghosts were haunting their relatives and depriving them of their vital force. Death occurred by no later than three to four days. The colonial administration, alarmed by the threat of an epidemic illness, dispatched military officers and physicians to examine the occurrences. Soon several reports and newspaper articles circulated and made the untimely resurrection of the dead known to the perplexed public, Europe-wide. "Vampyrus Serviensis", the Serbian vampire, became an intensively discussed phenomenon within academe, and thereby gained factual standing. My paper depicts the geopolitical context of the vampire's origin within the Habsburg states. Secondly, it outlines the epistemological difficulties faced by observing physicians in the field. Thirdly, it delineates the scholarly debate on the apparent oxymoron of the living dead in the era of enlightened reason. Fourthly, the early history of vampirism shows that ghosts and encounters with the undead are not superstitious relics of a pre-modern past, or the Enlightenment's other, but intimate companions of Western modernity.
Assuntos
Cadáver , Morte , Epidemias/história , Folclore , Observação , Superstições/história , Vitalismo/história , Academias e Institutos/história , Europa (Continente) , Medo , História do Século XVIII , Humanos , Sistemas Políticos/história , SérviaRESUMO
Se trata de analizar un rubro que considero incompleto, como es el denominado supersticioso en el repertorio; en base a su historia y observacion clinica
Assuntos
SuperstiçõesRESUMO
Pesquisa sobre famílias trabalhadoras, em Campinas, acerca do consumo de serviços, não só populares como oficiais, de saúde. Aborda, de modo significativo, que saúde depende das crenças e representações a respeito do que é saúde e do que é doença. Na concepção popular, a medicina oficial não se encontra equipada para solucionar uma ampla gama de problemas de ordem psicológica e social que envolve o atendimento de saúde, estando aparelhada apenas para restaurar a capacidade de trabalho. Analisam-se também, os agentes e as modalidades de prestação de serviços médicos consumidos pelas famílias estudadas