Introduction

Rituals, like operas, are mixed and complicated events and, as a consequence, the study of rituals is an interdisciplinary job.1 It includes sociology and psychology, history, and anthropology, performance studies and gender studies. And when those involved in the study of ritual list the disciplines relevant to the task, philosophy is not excluded-that is, the word “philosophy” can often be found on those interdisciplinary lists. But such lists can be misleading, for philosophy has so far contributed almost not at all to the study of rituals.