Magical thought and scientific imagination

All human knowledge has passed the process of the historical developments and reached the present level. By using the documentary method, this paper analyzes the relation between magic and science. One of the fields of knowledge is the scientific knowledge. Based on the positivist paradigm, magical thinking is false. Positivists, in their methodology, emphasize on observation and experiment, and non-empirical phenomena have regarded as un-scientific and meaningless. This radical reading is modified by the new positivists. Some philosophers and anthropologists have supported magic by anthropological approach. They emphasize that there is not conclusive argument for the superiority of science over other types of knowledge. Any knowledge embraces various language games and a set of vocabulary which its understanding is difficult when taken into consideration from outside. According to the modern anthropological paradigm, the scientific thought and mythical- magical thinking- are mixed with each other. They have existed in the past and present societies and they have fed from each other.