Life Magic and Staged Magic: A Hidden Intertwining

Abstract

Appropriately enough for the topic of magic, I begin this philosophical essay with a paradox. On one hand, it would seem that there are few things less deserving of such study than magic. After all, in traditional philosophy, magic is cast out as “the other,” as that thing outside that demarcates and legitimizes proper philosophy. This strategic operation is clearly seen in Plato’s writings: time and again, he insists that

Lawrence Hass is Professor of Philosophy at Muhlenberg College and founding director of the College’s internationally recognized, award-winning program, The Theory and Art of Magic. Hass is a highly respected performing magician who teaches and writes about magic from a philosophical point of view. Hass also specializes and is widely published in phenomenology, aesthetics, andpost-modern philosophy.

In this chapter, Hass attempts to articulate the profound yet unacknowledged relationship humans have with magic. He argues that magic-making, far from trivial, juvenile, or superfzcial, is a fundamental aspect of our pre-conscious practices and sensibilities. Certain magical acts, rituals, and beliefs are constitutive of life as we know it; they are life magic. How do magical artists stage life magic we already perform and want to perform? How do they reflect back our own magicmakingpractices and desires?

Magic need not be an empty show of skill that provokes disbelief, or a display of false power that encourages belief. Magic can be a collaborative work of imagination... that generates make-believe.

—Robert E. Neale, The Magic Mirror