Abstract
This essay is based on Malinowski's work "The role of Magic and Religion? and that of Evans Pritchard "Witchcraft explains unfortunate events?. Both Malinowski's and Evans Pritchard's works take part in the debate on the function of religion in societies and for individuals. Both authors try to answer what we can call a psychological functionalist approach. This implies that they both show that religion is one element of society and like all other elements of society it fulfills a function for individuals. Malinowski suggests that religion and magic (which are strictly different) come from psychological needs of human beings and they have a positive function that we will try to explain.
