Ed. by Andrea D’Ammando and Francesco Restuccia

Over the past century, various scholars – philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists, and media theorists – have revisited the concepts of magic, magical thinking, and magical consciousness in order to define distinctive features of contemporary society. These categories have been employed both to describe social and cultural pathologies and to identify possible antidotes to them.

Beginning with the classical studies of Frazer, Mauss, Malinowski, and De Martino, the concept of magic has been used to refer to processes characterized by a peculiar indecipherability: practices or beliefs appear to be connected to certain effects in an indirect yet seemingly immediate way, without the subjects involved being aware of their concrete genesis. A magical dimension has thus been attributed to new technologies, marked by increasing structural complexity alongside a simplification of use, according to the black box model (Flusser, Davis). More recently, predictive models of artificial intelligence have also been compared to divinatory practices (Esposito).

Closely linked to ritual and play, magic bears a strong affinity with the aesthetic sphere. This concerns not only the (presumed or actual) magico-ritual origin of art (Benjamin). A component of indecipherability and uncontrollability similar to that of magic also characterizes aesthetic experience, often described and analyzed – not coincidentally – through the notion of a “je ne sais quoi” or the idea of “states that are essentially by-products” (Elster). While it is possible to attempt to arrange the conditions for an aesthetic experience – for instance by choosing to engage with a particular work or by exposing oneself to a certain atmosphere – its success cannot be achieved deliberately or intentionally, but remains beyond our control. Indeed, it is precisely this unavailability that makes it what it is and allows it to function (Velotti). A similar dynamic emerges in the pursuit of ecstatic states through psychedelic dispositifs – music, psychoactive substances, collective rituals – often intertwined with esoteric imaginaries of a magical matrix (McKenna), which manifest themselves in their richest and most meaningful form only spontaneously (“as if by magic”, one might say). Mass communication as well, both political and commercial, operates through persuasive dispositifs frequently likened to forms of magical suggestion (Cavalletti). The reference to magic has thus functioned both as an instrument of delegitimization – one may think of the figure of the witch (Federici) – and as a resource for claims-making by marginalized subjectivities (Consigliere). From certain perspectives, moreover, a “magical” relation to the world may take the form of a “re-enchanted” relation, capable of bringing forth alternative forms of life in contrast to dominant ones (Stiegler, Campagna).

This issue of Pólemos aims to investigate the fertility of the concept of magic as a key to interpreting our contemporary condition, starting from the recognition of its fundamental ambivalence. What is the aesthetic and political potential of magical dispositifs, and what are the dangers of a “return to magic”? Is there such a thing as “good magic” and, conversely, “bad magic”? Or is it rather a matter of different ways of deploying its mechanisms and effects? From this perspective, any serious and well-grounded inquiry into the concept of magic must necessarily be accompanied by a “critique of magic”: not a mere demystification, but an analysis of the conditions, implications, and limits of its use as a philosophical category and as an aesthetic- political tool.

 

The editors invite contributions on the following thematic areas:

• The use of anthropological categories of magic in philosophy
• Magic and technology: the magical character of technology
• Technology and magic: the technical character of magic
• Magic and artificial intelligence
• Magic and aesthetics: the je ne sais quoi and the dialectics of control
• Art and magic: magic in contemporary artistic practices
• Ecstatic practices, psychedelic rituals, and esoteric imaginaries in the contemporary West
• Politics and suggestion: magico-persuasive dispositifs in mass communication
• Magic, marginality, and conflict: between stigmatization and practices of political reappropriation

 

Submission guidelines

 Articles (maximum length: 40,000 characters, including spaces), accompanied by an abstract of 1,000 characters, should be sent to cfp@rivistapolemos.it by July 15, 2026 (in one of the following formats: .doc, .docx, .odt). Kindly submit the article and abstract in a single document suitable for anonymous review (double-blind peer review). Contributions directly addressing the suggested research lines are particularly welcome. Articles concerning related areas will also be taken into consideration. Submissions are accepted in Italian, English, French, German, and Spanish.

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