Disenchantment

Disenchantment
Disenchantment - the idea that science and the Enlightenment have eroded ideas of religion and superstition - wonders and marvels demystified by science, spirituality supplanted by secularism and spontaneity replaced by bureaucratisation (Saler). The term was popularised by Max Weber who stated that the advent of scientific methods led to a de-mystification of the world, calling this disenchantment.

However, the idea of disenchantment has come under more scrutiny by historians in recent years, Saler states that 'elites have enchanted themselves with the spell of disenchantment, but that spell appears to be breaking'. Saler recognises that rather than disenchanting the world, modern science has become a central locus of modern enchantment. During also challenges the notion of disenchantment, arguing that reason co-exists with imagination and wonders have instead become internalised, rather than removed completely. Partridge's discussion of hauntology shows that belief in the paranormal 'is not the preserve of premodern societies, but rather continues to press in on the human spirit and to disturb the ordered rationalism that comforts the late-modern mind'.