10.17192/mjr.2020.22.8296 Bennett, Fionn Fionn Bennett Post-rational eco-communicological aporias, pre-rational eco-communicological euporias: the “magical worldview” and restoring a meaningful man-nature dialogue Marburg Journal of Religion : Vol 22 No 2 (2020) Philipps-Universität Marburg 2020 incantatory magic cosmonomy environmental affordance hieroglossia cosmodicy magical enchantment ethology archaic Hellenic religion global society song culture Institute for Comparative Cultural Research - Study of Religions and Anthropology 2020-08-18 2020-08-18 en JournalArticle https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0004/2020/248/8296 urn:nbn:de:hebis:04-0004-2020-248-82968 https://doi.org/10.17192/mjr.2020.22.2 https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0004/2020/248/8296/8296.png 1612-2941 application/pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 This essay argues that contemporary Global Society’s biggest ‘communication challenge’ is to find ways to interface and dialogue meaningfully with its more-than-human Umwelt. It shows that communication strategies premised by the tenets of ‘constructivism’ and ‘realism’ do not work. Neither do ‘consiliant’ syntheses of these two approaches. Instead, it suggests that a better solution lies in emulating the communication strategies associated with the ‘magical worldview’. Specifically, it focuses on (1) why magical rationalism assumed that Nature had a voice and a language (2) how the intelligence related by this language was made a foundation and an operational component of societal values and practices and, finally, (3) why there is nothing far-fetched about embracing this rationalism, factoring it into our ideas about ‘progress’ and operationalising it as a means to negotiate an entente cordiale between Nature and Global Society. This paper is one of a collection that originated in the IAHR Special Conference “Religions, Science and Technology in Cultural Contexts:+nbsp; Dynamics of Change”, held at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology on March 1–2, 2012. For an overall introduction see the article by Ulrika Mårtensson, also published here. 1612-2941 Marburg Journal of Religion Vol 22 No 2 (2020)