Magic often refers to an act that relates to a supernatural phenomenon that people use to in create certain conditions resulting to particular outcome. The aspects of magic often relates to two different practitioners. The good act of magic refers to the act of a magician while the evil magic is an act of a sorcerer (Frankle and Stein 136). On the other hand, science is a tool for an industrial society. It main purpose if alleviate people from adverse and difficult situations. Science provides explanation to the nature and causes of a problem and, at the same time, provides a suggestion to solve it (Frankle and Stein 137).
One major difference of science to magic is that science relies on the empirical methods of finding explanations, forming conclusions, and formulating theories, according to diverse analyses that makes use of tools for observing and making measurements. These measurements are the core differences between science and magic. Because, everything is measured in science, results or conclusions that come from it are verifiable. Magic, on the other hand, does not provide such privilege. Note that the empirical method is the scientific method. Conclusions and theories come from the testing of hypotheses that can be analyzed through empirical methods of observations and generalizations. When the solutions which science generate are not effective in addressing a problem, people turn to magic, instead. The only knowledge that is useful for a person relying on magic is the act of how to perform it such as rituals (Frankle and Stein 138).
The concept of science that originated for the western cultures is more of a traditional aspect. The notion of distinction between western and non-western culture is no longer evident, so science, as we know it today, is a concept that can originate from any culture – western or non-western. This is the reason why we have scientist on Asia, Africa, etc. Note that, even in the ancient times, the Chinese show advance knowledge in medicine – which is science.
Works Cited:
Frankle, R. and Stein, P. Anthropology of Religion, Magic and Witchcraft. 5th Edition. Pearson Publishing. 2005. Print
