Carlo Bellieni, Bioethics Commission of the Tuscany Region, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

In industrialized countries, the common mindset pivots around personal performance. People identify their worth with their performance, consequently they identify their duty with their role. Consequently, being good gears in their jobs is all that is requested to them, and grants good behavior y good consequences. Being good gears, people suppose that they automatically achieve what they aspire to. This can be called “magical thinking” because it owns three main features that define the word “magic”: simpleness, immediacy, and effortlessness. The aim of this paper is examining if and how this really happens in three fields: medicine, ethics, and general life. Secondary aim is detecting what is boosting magic in modern life. The conclusion is that magical thinking is widespread in industrialized societies.

Keywords: Bioethics. Challenge. Argumentation. Magical thinking.