Hypnosis Between Science and Magic

by Isabelle Stengers, April A. Knutson (translator), Matthew Fuller (series_editor)

Hypnosis Between Magic and Science provides a brilliant entry point to the work of Isabelle Stengers', the acclaimed philosopher of science who has so originally and forcefully shifted how we think about the history of ideas. The book focuses in on an area of her thought that has recurred throughout her career; the presumed antagonism between magic and science, especially the evacuation of magic from all that is thought to be scientifically valid. What, asks Stengers, if judgment returned to the craft of magic? How would that relieve the burdens of critique and realign its priorities? These questions regarding value of magic to thinking are at the very heart of Stengers' political and philosophical thought and her insistence that 'the smoke of the burned witches still hangs in our nostrils'.

172 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Isabelle Stengers is the author of many books on the philosophy of science, and is Professor of Philosophy at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.