Marett, Crawley, Lowie, Radin, Malinowski y Freud

The main emotivist theories on the origin of religion in anthropology and psychoanalysis are presented. Marett conceives of primitive man as a being driven by feelings, not reason, and interprets the sacred through the concept of mana and taboo. Crawley attributes religion to fear, especially that which arises in social relationships, and maintains that it is most intense where there is greater danger. Lowie and Radin reduce religion to feelings or apprehension in the face of the extraordinary, denying the existence of a specific religious behavior. Malinowski understands magic and religion as cathartic mechanisms that alleviate anxiety in the face of life's uncertainties. Freud, finally, equates the religious attitude with neurosis, explaining it as an illusion born of the "omnipotence of thought" and the original Oedipal conflict, developed in the myth of the primitive parricide in *Totem and Taboo*.