@TheTrickster wrote:
The second one is regarding the evolution of science from superstition. Actually, it was like a circle: in the Ancient Greek –well, and in Mesopotamia, in Egypt…- the philosophers were actually scientifics, the current difference between “those who think” and “those who practice science” didn’t exist.
Good point! I should have said that I was really concentrating on the shift from the medieval to the modern view. Many of the ancient Greek philosophers were attempting to find scientific explanations for the world and they certainly employed open debate (although most of them were a bit long on hypothesis and short on experiment).
For a chilling account of the Malleus Malifcarum, read Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World
You raise a very good point that we don’t really know how widespread magic is in the Enchanted Forest since we’ve only seen a handful of people using magic. We do seem to see most people going about their daily business without it, so as you say, those people must have a basic understanding of how the natural world works – which is a simple science.