The Dallas Examined Life Philosophy Group Monthly Meetup

TOPIC:

Magic

With Halloween around the corner, our thoughts turn to ghosts, goblins, and ghouls. It's a time of year when the boundaries between the magical and the mundane blur slightly as we celebrate the darker and mysterious aspects of our nature. There's also candy and pranks, but as far as philosophy goes, magic is by far the more interesting topic. Magic and magical thinking has been with humanity for longer than our written history. In a way, you could say that magic is a part of us. But what does it mean to be a human being in the context of magics both real and imagined?

Surprisingly, wikipedia has a rather comprehensive entry on magic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_%28paranormal%29

Questions:

1. What is magic? Define our terms.
2. What is magical thinking? Are these simply cognitive biases caused by vestigial instincts?
3. What harms have magical thinking caused in the past and what about magical thinking contributes to such harms?
4. Does magic have a useful place in our modern world? Does it have to be magic?
5. Ritual being a large part of magic, how is ritual used for magic, and can the power of ritual be harnessed through non-magical means?

Location and Price:

This meetup will be just outside the cafe inside Half-Price Books (near the fish tank and crystal display). There is also a suggested (but by no means mandatory) $2 donation to help cover the cost of maintaining this meetup group.