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The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences
A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted?
Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines' founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world.
By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past.
Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines' founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world.
By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past.
430 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 16, 2017
76 people are currently reading
1533 people want to read
About the author
Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm
8 books70 followersJason Ānanda Josephson-Storm received his PhD in Religious Studies from Stanford University in 2006 and has held visiting positions at Princeton University, École Française d’Extrême-Orient, Paris and Ruhr Universität, Germany. He has three primary research foci: Japanese Religions, European Intellectual History, and Theory more broadly. The common thread to his research is an attempt to decenter received narratives in the study of religion and science. His main targets have been epistemological obstacles, the preconceived universals which serve as the foundations of various discourses. Josephson Storm has also been working to articulate new research models for Religious Studies in the wake of the collapse of poststructuralism as a guiding ethos in the Humanities.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
July 1, 2017
A book so wildly entertaining and weird, you almost forget how scholarly and well researched it is. I would argue it compares in importance to Peter Harrison's The Territories of Science and Religion or Charles Taylor's A Secular Age. My favorite read in 2017 so far by a wide margin.
June 3, 2017
After Josephson-Storm's bombshell "The Invention of Religion in Japan," a conscious attempt to build a counter-mythology which invited much interest and criticism, his new book "The Myth of Disenchantment" was highly anticipated in some academic circles. People who jumped to pre-order their copy may be disappointed at first if they have an Aristotelian bent. A lot of it seems like “ad hominem” characterizations of individual thinkers rather than discussing the “essence” of their intellectual program.
I recommend to such a reader a little thought experiment. Close the book, and try to write a paragraph-long history of thought where you explain how it is that academia lost its Christian character in the 19th century and became ruled by secular or atheist forces instead. “As Weber explained, the modern world is a disenchanted one.” But hold on… you just read a book where Josephson-Storm explained in painstaking detail how Weber was fond of mysticism and occultism!
This is the “myth” that he is trying to demonstrate: academics like to mourn how sad it is that the modern world has become past-perfect “disenchanted,” while simultaneously participating in enchanted behaviors that exist very much in their own present day. So even if you yourself sincerely believe in the superiority of positivism, this book will rid you of mythical historicist grounds for your argument: you must return to arguing for positivism on its own merits and not because the current year demands such a thing.
The real conundrum is if you don’t believe in positivism, like many of the writers Josephson-Storm discusses. Many humanities scholars use the myth of disenchantment not to cheerlead for atheism, but to apologize for their own commitment to methodological naturalism by appealing to a popular fairy tale (specifically, the tale of the vanishing of the fairies). This book may seem slight in its argument at first, but in fact, having read it closely, it will have a reflective force on your own work: you are no longer able to appeal to “disenchantment” in an honest way.
It is a book of magic!
I recommend to such a reader a little thought experiment. Close the book, and try to write a paragraph-long history of thought where you explain how it is that academia lost its Christian character in the 19th century and became ruled by secular or atheist forces instead. “As Weber explained, the modern world is a disenchanted one.” But hold on… you just read a book where Josephson-Storm explained in painstaking detail how Weber was fond of mysticism and occultism!
This is the “myth” that he is trying to demonstrate: academics like to mourn how sad it is that the modern world has become past-perfect “disenchanted,” while simultaneously participating in enchanted behaviors that exist very much in their own present day. So even if you yourself sincerely believe in the superiority of positivism, this book will rid you of mythical historicist grounds for your argument: you must return to arguing for positivism on its own merits and not because the current year demands such a thing.
The real conundrum is if you don’t believe in positivism, like many of the writers Josephson-Storm discusses. Many humanities scholars use the myth of disenchantment not to cheerlead for atheism, but to apologize for their own commitment to methodological naturalism by appealing to a popular fairy tale (specifically, the tale of the vanishing of the fairies). This book may seem slight in its argument at first, but in fact, having read it closely, it will have a reflective force on your own work: you are no longer able to appeal to “disenchantment” in an honest way.
It is a book of magic!
July 13, 2017
Extraordinary (and dense) intellectual history of religious studies and modern philosophy, focused on the way that myth, magic, and the occult persisted in 19th- and 20th-century Western societies. A commonly told historical narrative, first formed in the 1890s and widely accepted by the 1950s, held that the Enlightenment began to "kill God" and dispel magic from society — a process called "disenchantment." Even social critics like those of the Frankfurt School, who interrogated capitalist and Christian modernity, assumed that myth had left society. However, Jason Josephson-Storm shows that this historical narrative is false. In truth, the Western world has not grown progressively more secular. Instead, an interest in magic and the occult has persisted, despite attempts of modern Christians and secular historians to claim otherwise. Marie Curie and other scientists studied Spiritualist mediums. William James, founder of psychology, believed in psychic powers. Philosophers dating back to the 1600s feared that God was dying; Nietzsche was not the first person to cry nihilism. All kinds of occultists spread their ideas in the 1800s–1900s. In short, modernity as we conceive it is not an accurate description of popular religion in the world. The founders of religious studies, who claimed to study religion on secular scientific grounds, still defined religion based on Christian and also occult ideas. Josephson-Storm shows that many theoretical debates — modern/postmodern, secular/religious, enchanted/disenchanted — set up false dichotomies. The messy nature of the world and its philosophies defies easy categorization. Faith in the supernatural is here to stay.
The book is one that will yield new layers on repeat readings. An amazing achievement, this volume surpasses Josephson-Storm's first, and brilliant, book, "The Invention of Religion in Japan."
The book is one that will yield new layers on repeat readings. An amazing achievement, this volume surpasses Josephson-Storm's first, and brilliant, book, "The Invention of Religion in Japan."
May 21, 2023
Fascinating insights into some lesser known occult philosophers/magicians here, but the central thesis doesn't hold much weight. The book's basic argument is this: though we think of modernity as an era that has eradicated myth and magic, this idea is itself a myth. Many of the most famous proponents of Enlightenment thought were interested in/sometimes even practised the very superstitious wisdom they were supposed to be eradicating. An interesting idea, yes, but the fact that at the conclusion of almost every chapter Josephson-Storm has to hedge this thesis ("To be clear, I am not suggesting...") is a bit of a tell. Overall, too much nit-picky textual exegesis, weird (mis)readings of people like Weber and Benjamin, and throughout I was constantly struck by the thought: does this really matter? Even if every 'modernising' thinker was actually a closeted occult magician (which, as this book condedes, they weren't), would that really have any tangible impact on their work and its reception/effect on the world? To be fair, though the writing here is littered with academic terminology, Josephson-Storm writes well, and I was particularly struck by his critique of modernity as a framework (which is very well-articulated). Weird book!
September 1, 2024
People who are from downtrodden, rest belt states in the midwest play a game. It is passed from elder female relatives to child kin, down through the generations, from time immemorial, all the way to this very day.
It’s called:
DID YOU KNOW [BLANK] IS FROM [BLANK]?
For instance:
If you’re from MICHIGAN (like me). Your elder (probably female) relatives (my Grandmother in my case) never missed an opportunity to point out when a celebrity (no matter how minor) was from MICHIGAN.
For example:
When watching [Smokey and the Bandit]. My Gramma would invariably say, verbatim, or in some variation on the theme:
Did you know [Burt Reynolds] is from [Michigan]?
And for some reason.
As a child (and even continuing into adulthood).
This felt oddly validating.
DID YOU KNOW [BLANK] IS FROM [BLANK]? seems to be most commonly played by people from COLD places that few famous people live in or visit, like regions of Ohio or Canada:
Fore instance:
Did you know [Céline Dion] is from [Charlemagne, Quebec]?
If you are also from Charlemagne.
Or more importantly.
If you AND your Gramma are from Charlemagne.
You may find this fact to be (somehow) vaguely (or even highly) validating of your self worth.
A variation of this game is also played by oppressed minority populations that can assimilate into majority populations.
Variants include:
Did you know [BLANK] is Jewish?
Played by (probably all) Jewish Grandmothers.
NOTE:
Only Jewish people are allowed to play that one.
Or it starts to take on a distasteful tone quickly.
The JACK POT is to point out a two category.
Did you know [Howie Mandel] is a [Canadian Jew]?
DAMN!
One minute you feel, like, SO ALONE.
The next minute, it’s like, you just KNOW you’re not.
And ITS A VIBE!
NOTE: I cheated here.
I’m not a Canadian Jew.
I offered the Howie Mandel example because it’s already a very public fact. I googled it. So please forgive me.
Anyway…
Another variant is:
Who’s Gay?
That one was bigger in the 70’s-90’s.
But gay people still play that one (a little).
Again.
Only gay people are allowed to play that one.
If at all.
Anyway.
This book reads a bit like the:
DID YOU KNOW [BLANK] IS A [BLANK]?
But in the BEST WAY.
Author Jason Josephson-Storm seems to have made a mission out of discovering and outing closeted mystics from history. Particularly if they are (in any way/shape/form) influential on (or even adjacent to) postmodern critical theory.
Example:
Josephson-Storm devotes significant time to outing the mystical linings of Max Horkheimer and other members of the Frankfort School.
But he doesn’t stop there. Just to keep it real. He goes in HAM on the Mystical sympathies of Moritz Schlick and the Vienna Circle.
OH SNAP!
No HE DIDN’T?
YES HE FUCKIN DID!
Anyway.
Jason Josephson-Storm is a LEGIT AS FUCK scholar.
And this project is SO ODDLY specific.
You have to wonder.
Why (the actual fuck) is he THIS committed?
And then.
At the end of the book.
He reveals that his GRANDMOTHER was a religious studies scholar and a practicing witch.
Let’s hear it for BIG GRAMMA ENERGY (BGE).
It TOTALLY CAME THROUGH this TEXT.
Jason Josephson-Storm serves BGE in bushel’s.
And it ABSOLUTELY ROCKS.
All of that occurred to me late into this read.
At about page 200 I was thinking.
This is a FANTASTICALLY INTERESTING book.
But (given that the topic is NEARLY useless for me and my work/world, or at least it seems like that from my current perspective) I was having an extremely difficult time understanding why.
Again.
It felt like Josephson-Storm was playing a PRO level game of DID YOU KNOW [BLANK] WAS A MYSTIC? And I (somehow, for some reason) was hanging on every sentence of every page. Like it was the Da Vinci code or some shit. But I had NO IDEA why it was so important feeling.
It was a mystery in and of itself.
WHY did reading about this (incredibly obscure) topic so…
Urgent?
WHY did it feel so ODDLY satisfying and validating to know that Max Weber (pronounced VAY-BER) was (more than a little) MAGI-CURIOUS?
Now I know.
In the end.
It’s all about BGE.
Anyway.
In summary:
The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, challenges the commonly held belief that modernity is typified by a widespread "disenchantment," a term often used to describe the rationalization and secularization of the world, where belief in magic (spirits, and the supernatural etc) is said to have waned.
Josephson-Storm argues that this narrative of disenchantment is itself a myth and that modernity never fully rid itself of enchantment.
In sum.
Josephson-Storm basically OUTS premodern (e.g., Newton and Bacon) modern (e.g., Freud) and postmodern (e.g., Walter Benjamin) intellectuals for being MAJI-CURIOUS or even FULL BLOWN MYSTICS.
The more SECULAR, ATHEIST and POSITIVISTIC the BETTER.
It’s INCREDIBLY VALIDATING and NURTURING to any personal history or inclination you may have regarding mysticism. Particularly if you (like me) are a scholar in the social sciences, and if you (like me) have a history of eastern or esoteric interests, particularly if you (like me) also have a skeptical/critical positivistic and critical theory background. And have spent time in academia either conflicted about how to square that circle, and/or integrate spirituality and science.
If this is you.
Here’s your next read.
And the GREAT news is.
It’s OK to be YOU.
And to DO what you DO.
And to PURSUE your PASSION.
Even if it’s TABOO.
5/5 STARS ⭐️
It’s called:
DID YOU KNOW [BLANK] IS FROM [BLANK]?
For instance:
If you’re from MICHIGAN (like me). Your elder (probably female) relatives (my Grandmother in my case) never missed an opportunity to point out when a celebrity (no matter how minor) was from MICHIGAN.
For example:
When watching [Smokey and the Bandit]. My Gramma would invariably say, verbatim, or in some variation on the theme:
Did you know [Burt Reynolds] is from [Michigan]?
And for some reason.
As a child (and even continuing into adulthood).
This felt oddly validating.
DID YOU KNOW [BLANK] IS FROM [BLANK]? seems to be most commonly played by people from COLD places that few famous people live in or visit, like regions of Ohio or Canada:
Fore instance:
Did you know [Céline Dion] is from [Charlemagne, Quebec]?
If you are also from Charlemagne.
Or more importantly.
If you AND your Gramma are from Charlemagne.
You may find this fact to be (somehow) vaguely (or even highly) validating of your self worth.
A variation of this game is also played by oppressed minority populations that can assimilate into majority populations.
Variants include:
Did you know [BLANK] is Jewish?
Played by (probably all) Jewish Grandmothers.
NOTE:
Only Jewish people are allowed to play that one.
Or it starts to take on a distasteful tone quickly.
The JACK POT is to point out a two category.
Did you know [Howie Mandel] is a [Canadian Jew]?
DAMN!
One minute you feel, like, SO ALONE.
The next minute, it’s like, you just KNOW you’re not.
And ITS A VIBE!
NOTE: I cheated here.
I’m not a Canadian Jew.
I offered the Howie Mandel example because it’s already a very public fact. I googled it. So please forgive me.
Anyway…
Another variant is:
Who’s Gay?
That one was bigger in the 70’s-90’s.
But gay people still play that one (a little).
Again.
Only gay people are allowed to play that one.
If at all.
Anyway.
This book reads a bit like the:
DID YOU KNOW [BLANK] IS A [BLANK]?
But in the BEST WAY.
Author Jason Josephson-Storm seems to have made a mission out of discovering and outing closeted mystics from history. Particularly if they are (in any way/shape/form) influential on (or even adjacent to) postmodern critical theory.
Example:
Josephson-Storm devotes significant time to outing the mystical linings of Max Horkheimer and other members of the Frankfort School.
But he doesn’t stop there. Just to keep it real. He goes in HAM on the Mystical sympathies of Moritz Schlick and the Vienna Circle.
OH SNAP!
No HE DIDN’T?
YES HE FUCKIN DID!
Anyway.
Jason Josephson-Storm is a LEGIT AS FUCK scholar.
And this project is SO ODDLY specific.
You have to wonder.
Why (the actual fuck) is he THIS committed?
And then.
At the end of the book.
He reveals that his GRANDMOTHER was a religious studies scholar and a practicing witch.
Let’s hear it for BIG GRAMMA ENERGY (BGE).
It TOTALLY CAME THROUGH this TEXT.
Jason Josephson-Storm serves BGE in bushel’s.
And it ABSOLUTELY ROCKS.
All of that occurred to me late into this read.
At about page 200 I was thinking.
This is a FANTASTICALLY INTERESTING book.
But (given that the topic is NEARLY useless for me and my work/world, or at least it seems like that from my current perspective) I was having an extremely difficult time understanding why.
Again.
It felt like Josephson-Storm was playing a PRO level game of DID YOU KNOW [BLANK] WAS A MYSTIC? And I (somehow, for some reason) was hanging on every sentence of every page. Like it was the Da Vinci code or some shit. But I had NO IDEA why it was so important feeling.
It was a mystery in and of itself.
WHY did reading about this (incredibly obscure) topic so…
Urgent?
WHY did it feel so ODDLY satisfying and validating to know that Max Weber (pronounced VAY-BER) was (more than a little) MAGI-CURIOUS?
Now I know.
In the end.
It’s all about BGE.
Anyway.
In summary:
The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, challenges the commonly held belief that modernity is typified by a widespread "disenchantment," a term often used to describe the rationalization and secularization of the world, where belief in magic (spirits, and the supernatural etc) is said to have waned.
Josephson-Storm argues that this narrative of disenchantment is itself a myth and that modernity never fully rid itself of enchantment.
In sum.
Josephson-Storm basically OUTS premodern (e.g., Newton and Bacon) modern (e.g., Freud) and postmodern (e.g., Walter Benjamin) intellectuals for being MAJI-CURIOUS or even FULL BLOWN MYSTICS.
The more SECULAR, ATHEIST and POSITIVISTIC the BETTER.
It’s INCREDIBLY VALIDATING and NURTURING to any personal history or inclination you may have regarding mysticism. Particularly if you (like me) are a scholar in the social sciences, and if you (like me) have a history of eastern or esoteric interests, particularly if you (like me) also have a skeptical/critical positivistic and critical theory background. And have spent time in academia either conflicted about how to square that circle, and/or integrate spirituality and science.
If this is you.
Here’s your next read.
And the GREAT news is.
It’s OK to be YOU.
And to DO what you DO.
And to PURSUE your PASSION.
Even if it’s TABOO.
5/5 STARS ⭐️
June 24, 2021
It's not that I took almost an year to finish it but I had such an overwhelming urge to dig a little more into the sources Josephson-Storm has unearthed, that I kept it aside and went about on some of the literary adventures it mentions. Well some might say that these parallel currents of thought in stories of really famous thinkers were already there but I would insist to call it a 'discovery' of sorts because these stories were kind of rewritten by the 'scientific-minded' to exclude occultist and fringe elements within psychologies of otherwise 'modern' and 'scientific' thinkers.
But Josephson-Storm doesn't just unearth these fringe indulgences, he loosely knits a whole theory around it in the process. So when so-called identifiers of rupture between mind and nature claim that our age has no myth, they are also weaving a new myth to replace that; when Hegelians argue for a philosophy without religion, they are in fact trying to give old-school mystical rhetoric a semblance of method; and while Weber spoke about disenchantment of the world, he was drawn to Christian mysticism and vacationing with neo-pagans.
After finishing the book one wonders (to paraphrase Josephson-Storm) if it is, in fact, absence of enchantment or an access of it?
The chapter on Weber is kind of a supplementary bonus since it supplies pointers towards fresh interpretations of linkages between rationalization and disenchantment which are often identified as synonyms within the academy.
But Josephson-Storm doesn't just unearth these fringe indulgences, he loosely knits a whole theory around it in the process. So when so-called identifiers of rupture between mind and nature claim that our age has no myth, they are also weaving a new myth to replace that; when Hegelians argue for a philosophy without religion, they are in fact trying to give old-school mystical rhetoric a semblance of method; and while Weber spoke about disenchantment of the world, he was drawn to Christian mysticism and vacationing with neo-pagans.
After finishing the book one wonders (to paraphrase Josephson-Storm) if it is, in fact, absence of enchantment or an access of it?
The chapter on Weber is kind of a supplementary bonus since it supplies pointers towards fresh interpretations of linkages between rationalization and disenchantment which are often identified as synonyms within the academy.
November 14, 2024
You should read this book
May 22, 2019
Josephson-Storm’s “The Myth of Disenchantment” is an enlightening read, to say the least. Yes, it is dense, and if you are a non-scholar like myself, it may take you some time to get through the book. However, there are a couple of helpful resources out there to prime you on the book and make it easier to get going. One is a YouTube video by ReligionForBreakfast, “Does Humanity Still Believe in Magic?" which summarizes some of the book’s main points: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp_zE...
There are also a number of reviews out there that attempt to summarize the book. Some of them are better than others. For a pretty good one, check out the review by Peter Leithart called “First Things": https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclu...
As for why this book is enlightening, here’s my take. The reason the book is so long and dense is because its project is so huge, and what it is trying to undo is something that has become, for many, a fundamental part of how they perceive the world, namely—they believe in the idea that we live in an age called “modernity” and that modernity is characterized by a loss, or absence, of magic. BOTH of these ideas are wrong, and in order to show just why that is, Josephson-Storm traces the historical trajectory of how and why people came to believe in these ideas in the first place, which is due basically to a mythic narrative they built over time. His main point, which you only earn after you’ve followed the narrative thread through to the end and seen all its pieces, is not that myth-building is wrong or even that it is avoidable, but that once we recognize how and why we build the myths we do, we can choose to build BETTER ones.
What does this mean for “modernity”? It means a whole re-imagining; an opportunity to re-think what it means to be alive in this day and age—which is not mere fabrication, it does exist and we live in it, but it is up to US to conceive of how we want this age to look. Josephson-Storm liberates us of the myth that it is a magic-less age, and opens the space for us to re-conceptualize our current era. He does not do this for us. It is up to us to take that step. But he essentially clears the space that could well allow us to reimagine and rewrite our present moment and future history.
Not convinced? Give the book a try. The vast terrain this book covers is backed up by incredibly well-sourced research obtained by scouring books and archives in many different countries and languages.
I’ll admit that it took me a long time to get through the book, but in the end it was definitely worth it.
There are also a number of reviews out there that attempt to summarize the book. Some of them are better than others. For a pretty good one, check out the review by Peter Leithart called “First Things": https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclu...
As for why this book is enlightening, here’s my take. The reason the book is so long and dense is because its project is so huge, and what it is trying to undo is something that has become, for many, a fundamental part of how they perceive the world, namely—they believe in the idea that we live in an age called “modernity” and that modernity is characterized by a loss, or absence, of magic. BOTH of these ideas are wrong, and in order to show just why that is, Josephson-Storm traces the historical trajectory of how and why people came to believe in these ideas in the first place, which is due basically to a mythic narrative they built over time. His main point, which you only earn after you’ve followed the narrative thread through to the end and seen all its pieces, is not that myth-building is wrong or even that it is avoidable, but that once we recognize how and why we build the myths we do, we can choose to build BETTER ones.
What does this mean for “modernity”? It means a whole re-imagining; an opportunity to re-think what it means to be alive in this day and age—which is not mere fabrication, it does exist and we live in it, but it is up to US to conceive of how we want this age to look. Josephson-Storm liberates us of the myth that it is a magic-less age, and opens the space for us to re-conceptualize our current era. He does not do this for us. It is up to us to take that step. But he essentially clears the space that could well allow us to reimagine and rewrite our present moment and future history.
Not convinced? Give the book a try. The vast terrain this book covers is backed up by incredibly well-sourced research obtained by scouring books and archives in many different countries and languages.
I’ll admit that it took me a long time to get through the book, but in the end it was definitely worth it.
July 6, 2023
Quite different from what some readers might think this book is about... Lots of dry & sober history and unknown facts about major philosophers from the 19 and 20th century. But still, dozens of great insights, amazing selection of quotes and yes, thorough scholarship.
I teach Walter Benjamin quite often on different courses and have read so much about his Thesis on History, and yet, Jason Ananda Josephson Storm has shown me stuff I had never heard about. Indeed, Benjamin's connection to Ludwig Klages is very much erased from history. Kudos to the author for digging up on the footnotes of Critical Theory.
I don't completely agree with the thesis Josephson Storm is trying to prove here, much less with its final conclusion, but I don't rate a book based on how much I agree with the author. It is a treasure trove of information, this one. (though yes, quite dry on a few chapters, in particular the very long one on positivism). I look forward to reading more of Storm's books (and I am secretly hoping that since he dwelled on Japanese religion someday he'll write about jewish mysticism - he has already researched Frankfurt school & he's a jew, as he notes on the Klages chapter).
I teach Walter Benjamin quite often on different courses and have read so much about his Thesis on History, and yet, Jason Ananda Josephson Storm has shown me stuff I had never heard about. Indeed, Benjamin's connection to Ludwig Klages is very much erased from history. Kudos to the author for digging up on the footnotes of Critical Theory.
I don't completely agree with the thesis Josephson Storm is trying to prove here, much less with its final conclusion, but I don't rate a book based on how much I agree with the author. It is a treasure trove of information, this one. (though yes, quite dry on a few chapters, in particular the very long one on positivism). I look forward to reading more of Storm's books (and I am secretly hoping that since he dwelled on Japanese religion someday he'll write about jewish mysticism - he has already researched Frankfurt school & he's a jew, as he notes on the Klages chapter).
July 16, 2022
This book challenges the notion that we are living in a post-enchantment age of scientific positivism and rationality. This idea is challenged by showing the spiritual, magical, and esoteric roots of many modern movements (including the scientific method itself). Additionally, the book shows that those who pedal the myth of disenchantment are often believers in some form of spiritualism—and, most paradoxically, their anti-enchantment works often form the theoretical groundwork beneath the next great spiritual movement.
In the end, what is realized in reading this book is not that there's some kind of war being waged by disenchanted materialists against people wanting to hold onto their superstitions, but rather a much more nuanced and vibrant landscape of various magical and esoteric frameworks competing for the modern myth space. Even the book itself, as the author notes, plays a role in creating the new enchantment myth.
In the end, what is realized in reading this book is not that there's some kind of war being waged by disenchanted materialists against people wanting to hold onto their superstitions, but rather a much more nuanced and vibrant landscape of various magical and esoteric frameworks competing for the modern myth space. Even the book itself, as the author notes, plays a role in creating the new enchantment myth.
August 31, 2024
Both wide-ranging and in-depth in its exploration; an extremely interesting read that I see myself coming back to. Surprising* number of typos.
*or not surprising given that academic publishing is cheap AF so of course they didn't pay for final professional copy-edits
*or not surprising given that academic publishing is cheap AF so of course they didn't pay for final professional copy-edits
February 26, 2024
reading this book felt like what i imagine it was like to be at a circus in the 1920s. it is weird and wild. it knows it is on what it hopes to be a frontier. but josephson is so conscious of what he’s doing that the style and method of the book feels like its own gimmick (i’m using the term with reference to sianne ngai’s brilliant theorization of it). despite his whacky game of connecting the dots, josephson’s analysis feels oddly empty as we’re left with the question: so what? there are no politics in this book. there is no “real” history in this book. all he does is flip around a set of terms like a magic 8 ball hoping to render something different. but language is just language, after all. some linguistic term historians, anthropologists, and theorists are healthily aware of this, but josephson has enchanted himself that these words are magical in and of themselves. this is his folly.
September 29, 2025
A rollicking exploration of various philosophers and theorists, starting roughly in the eighteenth century, and their relationship to magic, the paranormal, and religion. In short: even logical positivism was not wholly "disenchanted", there's room for the paranormal in surprising places, and religion and magic have a more complicated relationship than one would think. On the other hand, this only tells one side of the story; something like Burt's Metaphysical Foundationss of Modern Science explains how teleology was walled off from physical theory. I don't think the two stories are in contradiction, and I don't think it's possible to fully understand modernity without taking each story into account.
December 20, 2022
algo mas malo q su libro anterior, pero se compensa porq cuenta muchos secretitos de las personas de las q va hablando
June 10, 2022
A lot of this went over my head, as I am not deeply familiar with many of the philosophers mentioned, but his overall narrative demythologizing the disenchantment narrative of Enlightenment Modernity is persuasive. As a Christian, I am skeptical we can ever really fully disenchant an enchanted world without having the magical, enchanted, sacred, spiritual, supernatural, uncanny, marvelous, impossible pop up on our field of vision in some new or unanticipated way.
This author is a creative thinker. Worth following!
This author is a creative thinker. Worth following!
December 7, 2017
Uneven and inconsistently argued, but full of curious facts and novel interpretations.
April 18, 2019
Reconstructing a history of "social science" in the late 19th and early 20th century which is an era full of the occult!
critiques-on-modernity
September 27, 2024I would like to recommend an excellent book which challenges certain important and widely held views of modernity. The name of the book is "The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences" (2017) by Jason A. Josephson-Storm. Dr. Josephson-Storm is the Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century Professor of Religion and Chair of Science & Technology Studies at Williams College who earned his Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and his doctoral degree in Religious Studies from Stanford University. The following view by Theodor Adorno is an example the the kind of views challenged in this book:
"Enlightenment’s program was the disenchantment of the world. . . . In the authority of universal concepts, the Enlightenment detected a fear of the demons through whose effigies human beings had tried to influence nature in magic rituals. From now on, matter was finally to be controlled without the illusion of immanent powers or hidden properties."
Another view challenged is that of "modernity":
"Modernization is often equated with the rise of instrumental reason, the gradual alienation of humanity from nature, and the production of a bureaucratic and technological life world stripped of mystery and wonder."
More generally, the book argues that there is no need for re-enchantment of the world, for the world has never been disenchanted in the first place. He writes "disenchantment is a myth. The majority of people in the heartland of disenchantment believe in magic or spirits today, and it appears that they did so at the high point of modernity. Education does not directly result in disenchantment." Finally, for those interested in depth psychology, Josephson-Storm devotes an entire chapter to both Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung. I hope the following information is helpful in exploring this work.
A. "The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences"
https://academic.oup.com/chicago-scho...
B. Book Abstract: "A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? This book traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, it argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past."
C. "New Books" podcast episode recorded in 2024 - Interview with Jason A. Josephson-Storm
Podcast episode summary: "A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted?
Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world.
By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences (U Chicago Press, 2017) dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past."
https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-myth-...
"Enlightenment’s program was the disenchantment of the world. . . . In the authority of universal concepts, the Enlightenment detected a fear of the demons through whose effigies human beings had tried to influence nature in magic rituals. From now on, matter was finally to be controlled without the illusion of immanent powers or hidden properties."
Another view challenged is that of "modernity":
"Modernization is often equated with the rise of instrumental reason, the gradual alienation of humanity from nature, and the production of a bureaucratic and technological life world stripped of mystery and wonder."
More generally, the book argues that there is no need for re-enchantment of the world, for the world has never been disenchanted in the first place. He writes "disenchantment is a myth. The majority of people in the heartland of disenchantment believe in magic or spirits today, and it appears that they did so at the high point of modernity. Education does not directly result in disenchantment." Finally, for those interested in depth psychology, Josephson-Storm devotes an entire chapter to both Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung. I hope the following information is helpful in exploring this work.
A. "The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences"
https://academic.oup.com/chicago-scho...
B. Book Abstract: "A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? This book traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, it argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past."
C. "New Books" podcast episode recorded in 2024 - Interview with Jason A. Josephson-Storm
Podcast episode summary: "A great many theorists have argued that the defining feature of modernity is that people no longer believe in spirits, myths, or magic. Jason Ā. Josephson-Storm argues that as broad cultural history goes, this narrative is wrong, as attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than they have succeeded. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted?
Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. Ironically, the myth of mythless modernity formed at the very time that Britain, France, and Germany were in the midst of occult and spiritualist revivals. Indeed, Josephson-Storm argues, these disciplines’ founding figures were not only aware of, but profoundly enmeshed in, the occult milieu; and it was specifically in response to this burgeoning culture of spirits and magic that they produced notions of a disenchanted world.
By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences (U Chicago Press, 2017) dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past."
https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-myth-...
January 7, 2024
This is an interesting book that obviously required a tremendous amount of research, which included reading a lot of twaddle that must have been painful. God save me from ever having to read Aleister Crowley or the magical speculations of others who mostly worked on things that are a lot more sensible than Crowley. I didn't always agree with Mr. Josephson-Storm's analysis, but it was always carefully considered, and I never thought that he was clearly wrong. I completely agree with his fundamental point that Western thinkers have never been fully disenchanted. Even people who we think of as being wholly on the side of reason and logic - the philosophers of the French Enlightenment, Freud, the Vienna Circle - had their mystical, magical and spiritual sides. And conversely, even people who we see as being wholly on the magical/spiritual side, like Crowley, had important rational and scientific elements in their systems. Mr. Josephson-Storm is also correct in pointing out how the myth of disenchantment has been used by thinkers at many different times over the ages to either argue for the triumph or reason or conversely to argue for the need to restore the magic to a re-enchanted world.
The logical conclusion of all of this could be that we don't need to re-enchant the world today because it has never truly been disenchanted, but I wouldn't go that far. Certainly, in my education I was taught that all problems must be attacked and solved with reason, that superstitions and false beliefs not grounded in science have held back human flourishing, but they were largely vanquished at least among educated people by the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment. Maybe, as Mr. Josephson-Storm argues, this was a false picture of history, but there are many people who got the same training that I did and who mostly bought into it. No doubt some of these people believe in ghosts or other paranormal phenomena, but they still approach the world with an attitude that denies the world a spiritual essence, that takes away from a life affirming sense of wonder and awe and that makes too much of academia, art and life in general sad and dry. So I do think that we need re-enchantment, but if Mr. Josephson-Storm is right that we were never really disenchanted, then maybe we won't have to dig down too far to find the missing pieces that we need to bring the magic back.
The logical conclusion of all of this could be that we don't need to re-enchant the world today because it has never truly been disenchanted, but I wouldn't go that far. Certainly, in my education I was taught that all problems must be attacked and solved with reason, that superstitions and false beliefs not grounded in science have held back human flourishing, but they were largely vanquished at least among educated people by the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment. Maybe, as Mr. Josephson-Storm argues, this was a false picture of history, but there are many people who got the same training that I did and who mostly bought into it. No doubt some of these people believe in ghosts or other paranormal phenomena, but they still approach the world with an attitude that denies the world a spiritual essence, that takes away from a life affirming sense of wonder and awe and that makes too much of academia, art and life in general sad and dry. So I do think that we need re-enchantment, but if Mr. Josephson-Storm is right that we were never really disenchanted, then maybe we won't have to dig down too far to find the missing pieces that we need to bring the magic back.
April 5, 2023
A remarkable amount of work going on here; I picked this up at AAR at the end of 2022 as it looked potentially useful in places, and I’ve been surprised at 1) how enjoyable it was to read and 2) how readily JJS takes on the received historical narrative of the rise of secularism at the end of the nineteenth century.
Rather than simply arguing that the existence of enchanted mindsets, behaviors, and environments in the lives and practices of the key figures in the historical narrative of secularization/disenchantment (though he does this too), JJS is most productive and useful I think when building out the tension and relational space constructed between the concepts of enchantment and disenchantment, and the ways in which these two poles operate and even exist in terms of their functional opposition to each other’s ideological positioning throughout post-renaissance European history.
By reconsidering familiar terrain in light of this relationship, new ground (spatial and conceptual) is brought into view in productive ways. JJS takes Weber up as his dialogue partner explicitly, and Taylor’s Secular Age up as well (though more implicitly); I’m also interested in the ways his approach here works with Jamie Smith’s project. I’ll be coming back to this book again and again, and the thought and writing here is enough to make me want to read all his other volumes as well.
Rather than simply arguing that the existence of enchanted mindsets, behaviors, and environments in the lives and practices of the key figures in the historical narrative of secularization/disenchantment (though he does this too), JJS is most productive and useful I think when building out the tension and relational space constructed between the concepts of enchantment and disenchantment, and the ways in which these two poles operate and even exist in terms of their functional opposition to each other’s ideological positioning throughout post-renaissance European history.
By reconsidering familiar terrain in light of this relationship, new ground (spatial and conceptual) is brought into view in productive ways. JJS takes Weber up as his dialogue partner explicitly, and Taylor’s Secular Age up as well (though more implicitly); I’m also interested in the ways his approach here works with Jamie Smith’s project. I’ll be coming back to this book again and again, and the thought and writing here is enough to make me want to read all his other volumes as well.
September 3, 2021
This is fascinating. It's a history book, so you know, don't expect a light read. The author explores the magical and occult aspects and influences of many leading intellectual figures who we would consider "modern" or secular. Basically most of the heavy intellectuals of the past two centuries, like Kant, Adorno, Carnap, Weber, Freud, and many more. The aim is to show that they weren't the radical disenchanters we have received them to be, often dabbling in various magical arts either in the world or in private opinion. It's really refreshing then to see the likes of Crowley intertwined in this historical mix as they no doubt were. Considering all these kinds of things still exist, magical orders, new age groups etc... it would be hard to argue with the conclusion that the world is still very much enchanted and therefore disenchantment is a myth itself.
Overall it's a historical romp!
Overall it's a historical romp!
August 16, 2017
Could have been a lot better if Josephson-Storm had foregone the academese and Cultural Marxist rhetoric for a clean style.
The position, that disenchantment is a myth, is not new nor is new ground cleared here, however, there are few books produced in this area. Hence, books like The Myth of Disenchantment are very useful to the general reader. That said, the author's book and many like it are crippled by their obfuscating language and adherence to the dated discourses of the Frankfurt School/Critical Theory/Cultural Marxism. This is the tragedy of this book and those like it. Without the rhetoric it would have been a timely and useful investigation many would be interested in. As it stands, however, this entry in the field will only be of use to those already steeped in the discursive strategies of the Cultural Marxists.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Only for the initiated.
The position, that disenchantment is a myth, is not new nor is new ground cleared here, however, there are few books produced in this area. Hence, books like The Myth of Disenchantment are very useful to the general reader. That said, the author's book and many like it are crippled by their obfuscating language and adherence to the dated discourses of the Frankfurt School/Critical Theory/Cultural Marxism. This is the tragedy of this book and those like it. Without the rhetoric it would have been a timely and useful investigation many would be interested in. As it stands, however, this entry in the field will only be of use to those already steeped in the discursive strategies of the Cultural Marxists.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Only for the initiated.
August 31, 2019
I give up. I heard an interview with the author, and he sounded amazing and his book sounded delightful. Unfortunately, it turns out he is an academic and writes like one.
How depressing, to have heard him talk about such fascinating things on the podcast, only to pick up this book and find lengthy analyses of poetry and philosophy. I'd rather hear more stories about modern day enchantment than read what this book holds.
There are some interesting ideas in here. Marie Currie's interest in spiritualism, for example. But no layperson is going to make it through this text. If you're a student assigned this book for a class, fine. If you're not an academic, you'll inevitably put the book down and walk away.
(What finally got me to stop reading was a discussion on The Golden Bough and how one edition varied from another edition. I realized I didn't care at all.)
How depressing, to have heard him talk about such fascinating things on the podcast, only to pick up this book and find lengthy analyses of poetry and philosophy. I'd rather hear more stories about modern day enchantment than read what this book holds.
There are some interesting ideas in here. Marie Currie's interest in spiritualism, for example. But no layperson is going to make it through this text. If you're a student assigned this book for a class, fine. If you're not an academic, you'll inevitably put the book down and walk away.
(What finally got me to stop reading was a discussion on The Golden Bough and how one edition varied from another edition. I realized I didn't care at all.)
December 8, 2024
Maybe if you didn't know 19th century scientists were totally into the occult this book might be surprising but otherwise it has little to say. Humans are perfectly capable of holding onto supernatural beliefs even if they're contradicted by their own observations and reasoning - not a mystery the author purports to be. Some of the claims are clearly disingenuous like the one at the very beginning about Helen Duncan being jailed for witchcraft which the author makes to appear like it was a genuine belief at the time which it wasn't.
April 9, 2025
Great book that shows that the greatest Western thinkers that we today associate with a empirical scientific worldview and the perseption that the modern Western world is more secular, is just a myth. A myth of disenchantment. Actually many important Western thinkers where oculist or believed in the non-christian supernatural phenomenon.
The only disappointing thing in this very thorough book is that the author do not dwell on the pro-empiricist like Carl Sagan or Richard Dawkins that propagated the notion that the Western civilization is great because it had banished magical thinking.
The only disappointing thing in this very thorough book is that the author do not dwell on the pro-empiricist like Carl Sagan or Richard Dawkins that propagated the notion that the Western civilization is great because it had banished magical thinking.
September 5, 2017
I have some issues with this book, but it makes an important argument. Most importantly, it's a cracking read which is guaranteed to stimulate intellectually. My full review: https://dreamflesh.com/review/book/my...
August 4, 2021
I wanna thank you for giving me juicy juicy anecdotes for my bachelorsthesis and one hell of an argument in my conclusion for how the widespread belief in Weber’s disenchantment thesis stems from western society and white supremacy
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July 22, 2023Hard for me to rate, because I don’t know enough about the people and events described to evaluate the argument made. But it was interesting, full of the weird, dark, magical underside of “modern” thinkers.
June 26, 2023
Fascinating, dense, logical, thorough, eye-opening.
October 14, 2024
Best piece of philosophical history I've read in years. Should radically change the way we teach 19th/20th Century philosophy.
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