Preview
This article discusses the role played by science in changing the notions about witchcraft. For almost 250 years, the idea that the march of modern science was responsible for ending the era of the witch trials has held sway in academic and popular writing on the subject. At the same time, it has become equally axiomatic that the belief system which underpinned the legal persecution of witches was itself the product of faulty scientific thinking that was widely rejected as backward-looking, medieval, or superstitious in kind. However, this overly simplistic account of the demise of witchcraft was challenged by a later generation of scholars paving the way for a new consensus that has greatly diminished the role of science in this historical process.
Keywords: science; witchcraft; witch trials; persecution
Article. 6697 words.
Subjects: History ; Early Modern History (1500 to 1700) ; History of Science and Technology
Go to Oxford Handbooks Online » abstract
Full text: subscription required
How to subscribe Recommend to my Librarian
Buy this work at Oxford University Press »
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content. Please, subscribe or login to access all content.