E. E. Evans Prichard was a British social Anthropologist that was known for relating Moral Philosophy and Religion systematically with Social Behavior. He was distinctly Humanist, associating with the ideas of structural-functionalism and cultural translation.“The Notion of Witchcraft Explains Unfortunate Events” In this article Evans-Pritchard is breaking down the Azande’s philosophy on Witchcraft. This is so he can understand the rationality that is behind such a philosophy even though these are intelligent people. The purpose of witchcraft to these people is to give the answer as to why misfortune happens to man. As I was reading this article I realized that Evans-Pritchard had made sure to differentiate how we(westerners) see witchcraft
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They would instead be anticipating it; every day might I add, but it’s considered an annoyance. The Azande have their own idea or philosophy that helps with answering the questions of “Why exactly were these specific people, at this specific place, at this specific time hit by misfortune?’ While we may not have an actual answer for this except for that it was all coincidence, they at least explain these coincidences. When Evans-Prichard was speaking to Azande about the workings of witchcraft. In simple terms, they found out that the Azande “explain why events are harmful to man and not how they happen” (24). So, their philosophy gives you the why and not the how. When it comes to handling death, it is both a natural as well as a community factor/ affair. For while you cannot stop death if nature deems its time, but it still affects the whole community. Witchcraft doesn’t exclude this for the Azande, but “is superimposed on them and gives to social events their moral value” …show more content…
They do know when to use common sense over a supernatural cause when explaining things. They see witchcraft as something that is always with you. It doesn’t make people do things such as cheating, killing, lying, or stealing. The belief is that you alone are responsible for your actions. There is, however, the exception to this being killed. Even then it must be because witchcraft was involved if it was a separate tribe member that killed or committed the kill. Nevertheless, witchcraft is an acceptable explanation for things that cause misfortune, sickness, and death. That is where the line is drawn through. If it goes against social necessity expressed in law and morals than to wasn’t witchcraft that is to blame but the person that had breached a taboo. “But where there has been a breach of taboo and death is not involved witchcraft will not be evoked as a cause of failure” (28). The Azande have a complex idea when it comes to death. As already written before death can be caused because of witchcraft or a taboo breach. There is also another reason, such as for when babies die it's believed that that is just the will of the Supreme Being. Sometimes, though not even that is the cause of death, it is understood that there can be many other factors as to
They would instead be anticipating it; every day might I add, but it’s considered an annoyance. The Azande have their own idea or philosophy that helps with answering the questions of “Why exactly were these specific people, at this specific place, at this specific time hit by misfortune?’ While we may not have an actual answer for this except for that it was all coincidence, they at least explain these coincidences. When Evans-Prichard was speaking to Azande about the workings of witchcraft. In simple terms, they found out that the Azande “explain why events are harmful to man and not how they happen” (24). So, their philosophy gives you the why and not the how. When it comes to handling death, it is both a natural as well as a community factor/ affair. For while you cannot stop death if nature deems its time, but it still affects the whole community. Witchcraft doesn’t exclude this for the Azande, but “is superimposed on them and gives to social events their moral value” …show more content…
They do know when to use common sense over a supernatural cause when explaining things. They see witchcraft as something that is always with you. It doesn’t make people do things such as cheating, killing, lying, or stealing. The belief is that you alone are responsible for your actions. There is, however, the exception to this being killed. Even then it must be because witchcraft was involved if it was a separate tribe member that killed or committed the kill. Nevertheless, witchcraft is an acceptable explanation for things that cause misfortune, sickness, and death. That is where the line is drawn through. If it goes against social necessity expressed in law and morals than to wasn’t witchcraft that is to blame but the person that had breached a taboo. “But where there has been a breach of taboo and death is not involved witchcraft will not be evoked as a cause of failure” (28). The Azande have a complex idea when it comes to death. As already written before death can be caused because of witchcraft or a taboo breach. There is also another reason, such as for when babies die it's believed that that is just the will of the Supreme Being. Sometimes, though not even that is the cause of death, it is understood that there can be many other factors as to