Myths & Their Meaning

Part I:

Theory and Method

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What are we asking?

•Do myths have meaning?

•Must we read myths as having meaning?

•Myth and Theory (Myth, 10)

• Can theories explain myth?

• Do we need theories to explain myth?

2

Europa’s

brothers

Europa’s sons & lover

Lycia

Cilicia

Theories about myth

•Scientific

•Philosophy

•Psychology, sociology

•Literature

•Religion and ritual

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Three questions (Myth, 2)

•Three questions

• Origin

• Function (“need”)

• Subject matter (“referent”)

•Definition of Myth

• A story (narrative, plot)...

• ...about something significant...

• ...in which the main figures are personalities.

The Myth of Adonis

•Descent from the Gods

•The wrath (anger) of the gods

•Aphrodite against children of Cinyras

•Artemis against Adonis

•Aphrodite against Smyrna (“weeping” myrrh)

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The Goddesses in the Myth

•Aphrodite: sexual passion

•Artemis: hunting

•Persephone: underworld, cycle of spring and fall

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Adonis (in Ovid)

•Myrrha encased at the end of her pregnancy; weeping

•No conflict among the goddesses for Adonis

•Venus

•Meets Adonis as young man, not baby

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•Causality

•X causes Y

•“laws”? (fixed connection)

•I know whereever there is Y, there has been X prior to it

•I don’t see causes

•Events coincide

•They do so “most” of the time

David Hume on causality

•X ➵ Y

•X ➵ not Y

•Not X ➵ Y

•Not X ➵ not Y

.5% < 20%

Has humanly produced carbon emissions caused global

warming?•Not merely: is there global warming since humans have been around?

•But: has there global warming without ACP?

•Has the rate of global warming significantly increased since large-scale carbon emissions have occurred?

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Myth & Science (1)

•Myth is really scientific

•“creationism”, Feng shui, yoga

•“true” vs. “modern”

• “rationalizing” [pp. 11-12]

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Myth, Science, Logic(2)

•“Primitive science”

• “pre-”scientific explanation for events

•Mythic and scientific explanations cannot be held simultaneously

•Logic

• Is myth a way of thinking or doing?

• Is myth logical or non-logical? 16

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Theories (1)

•Tylor

• myth literal, but primitive, reading of physical events

• if primitive, ➛animism

• if modern, ➛philosophy

•Frazer

• myth explains the ritual, that effects events

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Theories (2)

•Malinowski

• myth happens when primitives can no longer control the world

• reconcile to world

•Lévy-Bruhl (25)

• myth as “participation mystique”-- pre-logical

• Do we feel connected to universe?

• Detachment ➛ science or philosophy 19

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Religion vs. Science: Theoretical Distinctions (Myth,

32-33)•Religion• Horton: “closed” and uncritical

• Popper: dogmatic

•Science• Horton: open

• Popper: second-order

•Do open societies have myths? Are scientific theories myth-like? 2

0

2121

Personal ImpersonalMental Material

Not predictable/testa

blePredictable

Particularistic Generalized

TeleologicalEfficient

causation

Tylor: science and myth are incompatible (pp.

17-18)

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Myth, science, personality (cont.)

•Are personal causes empirical (31)?

•although not scientific (Horton)

•Is science better “truth”?

•More effective “truth”

•How do we explain the continuing co-existence of myth and science (24)? 2

1

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Is Myth Philosophical?

• Paul Radin: yes: “ultimate components of reality”

•Cassirer: no: myth emotional, “atavistic”

• Myth deals with non-controllable world

•The Frankforts: philosophical vs. “mythopoeic” thinking 2

2

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Plato against Myth (1)

•Gyges’ ring

•The traditional view of the gods and human action

•What shapes human character: the gods or deeds?

•Fate (Anthology, 366-7)

•Ritual23

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Plato against Myth (2)

•Myths give a “bad image” of the gods (Anthology, 364-5)

•What is this image (365)?

•How does Plato know this is “bad”?

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Plato: Anthology 365-6

•God is good

•How does Plato know this is true? 366 top

•Contrary to the myths

•What is his motivation?

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Philosophy beyond mythClassical Mythology, ch. 4

•Muthos and logos (Plato)

•A myth about myth

•Allegory and Mythology (p. 64)

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Allegory

•Moralizing myth

•“meaning something other than what is said”

•Moral metaphors (##54, 69)

• “Scientific” metaphors (#56)

•Is there a truth to the story? 2

7

28

Myth and the Human Sciences

•How do myths help us interpret the human condition?

•The Oedipal Myth (Apd M6; Hyg. 66-68)

• Kingly son separated at birth

• Attempt to avoid awful destiny

• Ends up fulfilling destiny

• Murders father; incest with mother 28

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The Oedipal Myth (2)

•Maimed

•Natural disasters

•Savior become enemy

•Cycle of “dysfunction”

•Laios’ kidnapping of Chysippus

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The Oedipal Myth (3)

•Fate

•Oracles create the problem they try to stop

•“Whom am I?” What is his role in the drama?

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Freud and Rank

•Oedipal myth interpretative key• “vents Oedipal desires... (Myth, 94)

•Is Oedipus a hero” (Rank)?•Victory over fate

•Gaining infantile desires

•Does it hinder development or enable (98, 100)?

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Joseph Campbell

•Myth of the hero

•Adult, not childhood identity

•Basic pattern of “monomyth”: separation–initiation–return

•What does the hero discover?

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Alternative myths for psychology

•Jung: Puer-archetype vs. Hero

•Antigone: ethics, gender equality

•Cupid and Psyche

•Awakening of the “Soul” to “Pleasure” 3

3

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Final Questions on Psychology

•Which comes first, the myth or its interpretation?

•Is the myth exhausted (fully disclosed) in the interpretation?

•How do we know what myth to use?

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Myth & Society: Malinowski

•“Unpleasantries” & “impositions”

•Structures embody the system of social relations

•Necessary to order

•Ritual enacts

•Control: science & myth 35

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Myth & Society: René Girard

•Society constructed in violence

•“scapegoat” chosen to end violence

•Myth justifies projection of guilt on the sacrificial victim

•“Villains” and Heroes 36

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How Myths “work”

•Classical Mythology, pp. 28-32

•Architecture of Palatine Hill•Where Rome was founded

•Portico of the Danaids

•Cybele: ecstatic sexuality/castration

•“Myth works relationally” (38) = “context” (32)

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Myth and Literature

•Why tell stories?

•The Grail myth: mystical oneness

•The Hero myth: suffering–redemption

•Story = narrative ?

•Story vs. Philosophical “essence”? 3

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Finding “kernals of truth”

•CM, 16: are stories always biased-- do they always have an agenda?

•Does myth have a common plot (Myths, 88)?

•What does the plot tell us?

•Why tell a common story in so many variations? 3

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The Europa Myth

•Classical Mythology, ch. 1

•See p. 7

•Roman imperial mythology: unified Europe

•What part of the story do you focus on?

Development of myth: Santa Claus

•Retelling old stories in new ways

•St. Nicholas or Odin?

•Christian charity or gifts at “Yule”?

•“A Visit from St. Nicholas” (1823); The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902)

•Thomas Nast (1863); Coca-Cola (1930s)

Myth and Literature: Summary

•Self-conscious story, defines how community thinks of itself (Classical Mythology, 29)

•Which narrative does one identify with?

•If all myths are stories, are all stories myths?