Magic, Science and the Occult: from Antiquity to Postmodernity

3 credits · Undergraduate

A perennial source of fear and fascination, magic and related forms of ‘occultism’ (e.g. alchemy and astrology) have been dismissed as pseudo-science and even stigmatized as ‘Satanism’. This course aims to recover the original meaning of occultism from the perspective of the practitioners of magic. It explores the origins and development of the ‘occult sciences’, highlighting their often-overlooked contributions to the history of science, and their continuing evolution in the modern world. CROSSLISTED: HSTC 2120.03, HIST 2990.03, RELS 2120.03 FORMATS: Lecture | Seminar