A Short History of Myth (original) (raw)
Related papers
Myth and Mind: The Origin of Human Consciousness in the Discovery of the Sacred
Hollows of Memory: Featuring Gregory M Nixon's Work with Commentaries & Responses – Journal of Consciousness Exploration & Research, 2010
By accepting that the formal structure of human language is the key to understanding the uniquity of human culture and consciousness and by further accepting the late appearance of such language amongst the Cro-Magnon, I am free to focus on the causes that led to such an unprecedented threshold crossing. In the complex of causes that led to human being, I look to scholarship in linguistics, mythology, anthropology, paleontology, and to creation myths themselves for an answer. I conclude that prehumans underwent an existential crisis, i.e., the realisation of certain mortality, that could be borne only by the discovery-creation of the larger realm of symbolic consciousness once experienced as the sacred (but today we know it as the world — as opposed to our immediate natural environment and that of other animals). Thus, although we, the human species, are but one species among innumerable others, we differ in kind, not degree. This quality is our symbolically enabled self-consciousness, the fortress of cultural identity that empowers but also imprisons awareness.
When myth shows what the mind does not reach
Published in 'Storytelling, Self, Society', 2011
This essay analyses the use of ancient myths in modern-day Western therapy. It identifies some of the functions that may be fulfilled in our society by the Sumerian myth The Descent of Inanna and explores the conditions under which it may serve psychological needs.
Internationale Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Psychsomatik, 2019
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the structure of human thinking by means of the concept “myth”. The starting points are several prominent theories on this subject which are in agreement that myth is neither a simple opposition to logos nor that it allows for separating strictly purely irrational and purely rational thinking. However, these theories demonstrate very different ways of understanding myth, its relation to logos and its functions in the structure of human consciousness. Therefore my paper aims at developing a systematic conceptual frame for the “myth” and the so called mythical thinking by means of convergence of several methods and forms of inquiry about the complex relations between theories of meaning and theories of myth. Its innovative character consists in the systematic examining structures of mythical thinking with help of conceptual tools coming from the nowadays largely forgotten hermeneutic tradition of Georg Misch und Josef König, which until now has not been applied to this subject matter. I will examine to what extent this theory can be helpful for the understanding of myth and explanation of its role in thinking and life of modern humanity.
Mythology and Religion in the Context of Transition from Mythological Thinking to Religious Thinking
Culture Academy, 2022
The human species, which was completely dependent on nature in its early periods, experienced both physiological and intellectual changes in various periods. Human thought systems and styles have also undergone many significant changes over time. We can examine the development of thought systems, which are extremely important in the emergence of modern society and culture, in a sociological context in a particular order. In this study, the relationship between mythology and religion is discussed in the context of mythological thinking and religious thinking forms. The subject of belief has key features in thought systems and changes. These processes of change in people can be seen in the form of various elements in their narratives, philosophies, beliefs, and traditions. Myths, which are an important part of human culture, can reflect the change of thought of people from an only source in terms of their common handling of narratives, philosophies, beliefs, and traditions. The subject of religion and belief in myths and mythologies is also particularly important and comprehensive. One of the reasons for this is the relationship between mythological and religious thinking forms. In this study, first, the thought systems of human society and the change in these systems are discussed. In this section, mythological thinking and religious thinking styles are tried to be explained in social and cultural contexts. Then, various information about the myth genre is given and explanations are made about the relationship between mythology and religion in the context of mythological thinking and religious thinking forms. After the information given and the explanations made, it is tried to conclude. In this context, it is seen that the relations of "belief, imagination, fiction, and ritual" are common in religions and myths in the transition from religious thought to mythological thought.
Myth, religion and philosophy: A philosophical analysis
2018
Religion is a natural aspect of human race which grows out of human’s desire for meaning and belonging. Even if we try to get rid of one religion, we create another religion. Best or worst, humans seem to be motivated by religion. It represents a cultural and national identity. Myth’s philosophical importance is underestimated in that its role has been ignored simply because it is literary or argued as so much as window dressing by analytic interpreters of philosophy. The relation between ‘myth and ‘religion’ is an old and much-discussed topic. However, there are fewer agreements around the phenomenology of the two terms and their functional relation.
The One, 2020
This is a short essay I wrote for the campus journal, The One (CUHK Shenzhen). It offers a critical analysis of the terms "myth" and "religion" and their use in the academic study of religions.
The Concept of Myth and the Science of the Other
Paper delivered in the summer-school Concepts, Language and Beyond: Emotions between Values and Bodies, the Max Planck Institute of Human Development (IMPRS), Program of Moral Economies of Modern Societies: Berlin, Germany. (22-9/9/2014). This paper discusses the history of the concept of myth and the conditions for the emergence of scientific mythology vis-a-vis Michel de Certeau's concept of heterology.