@inbook{10.2307/j.ctt5hhpsm.15, ISBN = {9780691124056}, URL = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hhpsm.15}, abstract = {In his classic study of religion among the Azande peoples of East Africa, Evans-Pritchard noted that most deaths were attributed to witchcraft, no matter what the proximate cause or how-explanation.¹ This observation is true of many tribal societies, where witchcraft is especially favored as an explanation for improbable causes of death such as lightning or snakebites. It’s not that the Azande don’t accept the how-explanation (how the victim accidentally stepped on the snake or how snake venom causes death); it’s just that they are not impressed by these explanations, because they fail to answer the bigger why-questions: Why was the}, bookauthor = {RICHARD C. FRANCIS}, booktitle = {Why Men Won't Ask for Directions: The Seductions of Sociobiology}, pages = {192--200}, publisher = {Princeton University Press}, title = {Darwin’s Temptress}, year = {2004} }