A General Theory of Magic
E684994
A General Theory of Magic is a foundational anthropological work by Marcel Mauss that analyzes the social and cultural functions of magical beliefs and practices.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| A General Theory of Magic canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7734487 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A General Theory of Magic Context triple: [Marcel Mauss, notableWork, A General Theory of Magic]
-
A.
Metamagical Themas
Metamagical Themas is a collection of Douglas Hofstadter’s essays exploring themes in mathematics, computer science, cognition, and self-reference, many originally published in his Scientific American column.
-
B.
Magick in Theory and Practice
Magick in Theory and Practice is Aleister Crowley’s influential occult manual that systematically outlines his philosophy and methods of ceremonial magic within the Thelemic tradition.
-
C.
On Divination
On Divination is a lost philosophical treatise by the Stoic thinker Panaetius of Rhodes, in which he critically examined and questioned traditional beliefs about prophetic practices and the possibility of foreknowledge.
-
D.
Good Magic
Good Magic is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the 2018 Haskell Invitational.
-
E.
The Magic
The Magic is a self-help book by Rhonda Byrne that expands on the themes of The Secret by focusing on the transformative power of gratitude.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: A General Theory of Magic Target entity description: A General Theory of Magic is a foundational anthropological work by Marcel Mauss that analyzes the social and cultural functions of magical beliefs and practices.
-
A.
Metamagical Themas
Metamagical Themas is a collection of Douglas Hofstadter’s essays exploring themes in mathematics, computer science, cognition, and self-reference, many originally published in his Scientific American column.
-
B.
Magick in Theory and Practice
Magick in Theory and Practice is Aleister Crowley’s influential occult manual that systematically outlines his philosophy and methods of ceremonial magic within the Thelemic tradition.
-
C.
On Divination
On Divination is a lost philosophical treatise by the Stoic thinker Panaetius of Rhodes, in which he critically examined and questioned traditional beliefs about prophetic practices and the possibility of foreknowledge.
-
D.
Good Magic
Good Magic is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the 2018 Haskell Invitational.
-
E.
The Magic
The Magic is a self-help book by Rhonda Byrne that expands on the themes of The Secret by focusing on the transformative power of gratitude.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
anthropological work
ⓘ
book ⓘ |
| academicDiscipline | social sciences ⓘ |
| analyzes |
cultural functions of magical practices
ⓘ
social functions of magical beliefs ⓘ |
| author | Marcel Mauss NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| contribution | helped establish the anthropological study of magic ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | France ⓘ |
| describes |
beliefs underlying magical practices
ⓘ
rules and classifications of magical rites ⓘ |
| examines |
collective representations of magic
ⓘ
magicians as social actors ⓘ relationship between magic and law ⓘ relationship between magic and morality ⓘ |
| field |
anthropology
ⓘ
sociology ⓘ |
| genre |
non-fiction
ⓘ
social anthropology literature ⓘ |
| hasPerspective |
comparative
ⓘ
historical ⓘ sociological ⓘ |
| influenced |
later anthropological theories of religion
ⓘ
structuralist anthropology ⓘ the study of ritual ⓘ |
| influencedBy | Émile Durkheim NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| languageOfAvailableTranslation | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
belief systems
ⓘ
magic ⓘ religion ⓘ ritual ⓘ |
| notableIdea |
distinction between magic and religion
ⓘ
magic as a social institution ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | French ⓘ |
| originalTitle | Une théorie générale de la magie NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| publicationDate | early 20th century ⓘ |
| relatedConcept | collective representations ⓘ |
| relatedWork | The Gift NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| status |
classic of social theory
ⓘ
foundational text in anthropology of religion ⓘ |
| targetAudience |
anthropologists
ⓘ
scholars of religion ⓘ sociologists ⓘ |
| theoreticalApproach | Durkheimian sociology NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| topic |
collective belief
ⓘ
social cohesion ⓘ symbolic systems ⓘ |
| typeOfWork | theoretical treatise ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: A General Theory of Magic Description of subject: A General Theory of Magic is a foundational anthropological work by Marcel Mauss that analyzes the social and cultural functions of magical beliefs and practices.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.