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Why We Practice Magic

Not many academic philosophers discuss magic, however, five centuries ago, prominent Renaissance philosophers wrote extensive treatises on the topic.

As stage magician and philosopher Larry Hass explains, witnessing magic can be empowering because as the audience you get to share in the idea that we can achieve the impossible. Stage magician Teller describes magic as a kind of playful epistemology, “the heaviest philosophical ideas you can possibly have, dealt with in the silliest way.” In their 1929 Vienna Circle manifesto, he, together with Hans Hahn and Rudolph Carnap insisted that “the scientific world-conception knows no unsolvable riddle.” Their vision of science was connected to their concern with collective human life, including improving the lives of the working class, public education, and social reform.

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