Meaning/Structure of "Es mag so paradox anmuten"

Question

Das Führen von Kriegen ist keinesfalls ein unverbrüchliches Naturgesetz, sondern ein Kulturprodukt, sozusagen ein Kollateralschaden des zivilisatorischen Prozesses. Und so paradox es angesichts grausiger Aktualitäten auch anmuten mag: Die Erde ist im Lauf der vergangenen Jahrtausende ein immer friedlicherer Ort geworden.

How would you translate the sentence in bold? I've never seen a structure "Es mag ... paradox anmuten" before, with "mag" as an auxiliary verb. What are the possible meanings when we use "mag" as an auxiliary verb?

Answer 1

For my understanding as a German native speaker the mögen in Es mag paradox anmuten... has two purposes at the same time:

• It implies an uncertainty about the rest: Maybe it seems to be paradoxical to you but it need not seem paradoxical to everyone.
  ^{EDIT: As some have noted in the comments, instead of uncertainty the phrase could communicate irrelevance: It does not matter if it seems paradoxical or not because...}

• It makes the whole phrase a concessive clause (Konzessivsatz/-konstruktion) as if a zwar was present (Zwar mutet es paradox an, aber...). It may seem paradoxical BUT IT ISN'T. So everything following the colon may seem paradoxical but is not. In my mind the X mag Y sein-construction provokes a big ABER.

There are other concessive constructions (with obwohl, zwar, obschon...) but they do not include the first bullet part of uncertainty. If the phrase was Zwar mutet es paradox an, aber die Erde..., then it would be certain that it seems paradoxical to everyone.

To make things easier I use another example sentence to compare a normal statement with a concessive construction using zwar and a concessive construction using mögen:

• "Sarah findet ihn nett." = normal statement
• "Sarah findet ihn zwar nett..." = provokes a continuation with "but" ("..aber ich finde ihn nicht nett."); additionally it is certain that Sarah likes him.
• Sarah mag ihn nett finden... = provokes a continuation with "but" ("..aber ich finde ihn nicht nett."); additionally it is uncertain if Sarah aktually likes him.

^{EDIT: For my taste, both the zwar-phrase and the mögen-phrase contain the same degree of irrelevance but not the same degree of uncertainty.}

Answer 2

The phrase could be translated as:

And as paradoxical as it might appear in the face of horrible recent news: ...

"Mag" is a conjugated form of "mögen", a modal verb (that can also be used as a main verb). As you can see from its entry in the Duden it can be used to express quite a few different things. I prefer the summary they give at Canoo:

• The main use of "mögen" is to express a wish, most frequently by using the conjunctive form "möchten" - so frequently, that one might be tempted to regard "möchten" as an independent verb.

• Another use is to express that someone likes to do something (they use "Lust" at Canoo, but I'm not sure about a matching English noun).

• The function that you can find in the phrase in your question is concession or granting: "yes, I admit that it will sound paradoxical to many readers ...".

• You can use "mögen" to express uncertainty, bu according to Canoo it is obsolecent.

• And finally, you can use it to politely form an indirect request.

Answer 3

"mag" is a modal (mögen); it is ethymologically the same as "may", yet be careful, as both languages use it quite differently. I'll try a (somewhat free) translation: "As strange as it may seem in the face of current, brutal events: during the course of past milennia, Earth became a more peaceful place"

Note that "may" must not be used to denote permission:

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