Superstition
[1] Definitions of the term vary, but they commonly describe superstitions as irrational beliefs at odds with scientific knowledge of the world.
Stuart Vyse proposes that a superstition's "presumed mechanism of action is inconsistent with our understanding of the physical world", with Jane Risen adding that these beliefs are not merely scientifically wrong but impossible.
[3][4] Similarly, Lysann Damisch defines superstition as "irrational beliefs that an object, action, or circumstance that is not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.
[9] Vyse proposes that in addition to being irrational and culturally dependent, superstitions have to be instrumental; an actual effect is expected by the person holding a belief, such as increased odds of winning a prize.
[17]The current Catechism of the Catholic Church considers superstition sinful in the sense that it denotes "a perverse excess of religion", as a demonstrated lack of trust in divine providence (¶ 2110), and a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments.
To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition.
Matthew 23:16–22 (¶ 2111)Dieter Harmening's 1979 book Superstitio categorizes superstitions in three categories: magic, divination and observances.
[2] Examples of divination superstitions include judicial astrology, necromancy, haruspex, lot-casting, geomancy, aeromancy and prophecy.
[2] Chardonnens says superstitions belonging to the magic category are exceedingly hermetical and ritualistic: examples include witchcraft, potions, incantations, amulets etc.
[2] Chardonnens defines "prognostication" as that component of superstition which expects knowledge of the future on systematic application of given ritual and order,[2][20] and moves to classify it, writing: "Prognostication seems to occupy a place somewhere between observation and divination, of which the observation of times is represented most frequently due to the primacy of temporal prognostics..[2][21][22] Chardonnens classifies prophecy under the topic of divination; examples including the prophets of the Old Testament, biblical typological allegory, the fifteen signs before Judgement Day, and the many prophecies expressed by saints; Chardonnens further points out that since many aspects of religious experience are tied up with prophecy, the medieval church condones the same.
[24] According to László Sándor Chardonnens, Oxford English Dictionary (OED) definitions pass value-judgement and attribution to "fear and ignorance" without doing enough justice to elaborate systems of superstitions.
[2] Chardonnens says the religious element in OED denotations is not understood as a system of observance and testifies to a belief in higher power on part of the compiler of the dictionary.
those who are "left over", i.e. "survivors", "descendants", connecting it with excessive anxiety of parents in hoping that their children would survive them to perform their necessary funerary rites.
[31] According to Michael David Bailey, it was with Pliny's usage that magic came close to superstition; and charges of being superstitious were first leveled by Roman authorities on their Christian subjects.
In turn, early Christian writers saw all Roman and Pagan cults as superstitious, worshipping false Gods, fallen angels and demons.
[32] In 1948, behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner published an article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, in which he described his pigeons exhibiting what appeared to be superstitious behaviour.
[36] From a simpler perspective, natural selection will tend to reinforce a tendency to generate weak associations or heuristics that are overgeneralized.
[38] It is stated that superstition is at the end of the day long-held beliefs that are rooted in coincidence and/or cultural tradition rather than logic and facts.
[44] Psychologist Stuart Vyse has pointed out that until about 2010, "[m]ost researchers assumed superstitions were irrational and focused their attentions on discovering why people were superstitious."
The poem De rerum natura, written by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius further developed the opposition to superstition.
Cicero's work De natura deorum also had a great influence on the development of the modern concept of superstition as well as the word itself.
[53] The rediscovery of lost classical works (The Renaissance) and scientific advancement led to a steadily increasing disbelief in superstition.
The first philosopher who dared to criticize superstition publicly and in a written form was Baruch Spinoza, who was a key figure in the Age of Enlightenment.
[54] Most superstitions arose over the course of centuries and are rooted in regional and historical circumstances, such as religious beliefs or the natural environment.
[55] In China, Feng shui is a belief system that different places have negative effects, e.g. that a room in the northwest corner of a house is "very bad".
[58] According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) is targeted by motorists in regions of Brazil who do not want the creature to cross in front of them and give them bad luck.
[65] Common actions in the West include not walking under a ladder, touching wood, throwing salt over one's shoulder, or not opening an umbrella inside.
An ironic or non-literal saying of uncertain origin (a dead metaphor), "break a leg" is commonly said to actors and musicians before they go on stage to perform or before an audition.
