The idea of religious fetish, which emerged from the Afro-European encounter over four centuries ago, has a rich history, from its usage by travelers and merchants; through its appropriation by Illuminist thinkers; its radicalization and popularization during the Positivist and Evolutionist periods of western philosophy; until it rapidly declined after it was criticized and pronounced inadequate by modernist anthropology. The aim of this article is to examine the path this concept described. Not from a disinterested perspective, but within the current context of reevaluation of the fetish as a heuristic category, which suggests a parallel reevaluation of the history of the concept.
religious fetishism; fetish; anthropology