Discrediting the magic-religion binary should destabilize secular moral theory.

Evidence

But anthropologists in the twentieth century have problematized the concept of “magic,” and, more recently, of “religion.” There are also good reasons to be skeptical of the sharp opposition between the realm of nature and that of society. Historians, sociologists, and philosophers have now given us a deeper understanding of the ways in which the realm of nature is dependent on and even replicates human activity. In short: if our understanding of “moral action” is formed in contrast to certain ideas of “magic” and “religion,” can it remain unaffected when the latter are shown to be outmoded? — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 462

Categorization

• SEED: This is a clean essay angle: because ‘free agent’ morality is defined negatively against ‘magic,’ collapsing magic/science as a distinction ipso facto destabilizes the moral subject that secularism claims to be universal.