1. History of Research and Definition

The religions of so-called primitive peoples, which G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831; Hegelianism; Idealism 6) would not recognize as religion according to his definition, became an object of research in the 19th century, not on their own account, but to offer material for wide-ranging theories and to provide an answer to the question of the origin of religion as such. The presuppositions of the Enlightenment and the concept of evolution included the idea th…