(The ancient Greek word It is also worth pointing out that worship of the gods, for all of its superstitious aspects, was not incompatible with even the growth of scientific knowledge. So it’s definitely something I need to move up my reading list. Or is there something more specific? Both Logos and Mythos are terms coined and developed by Aristotle. I have read many naturalistic accounts suggesting why this line of thinking may have taken hold, e.g., John Dewey. religious traditions. So even as logos has triumphed over the mythos conception that divine personalities rule natural phenomena, qualities associated with personal beings have continued to sneak into modern scientific models.The transition of a mythos-dominated worldview to a logos-dominated worldview was a stupendous achievement of the ancient Greeks, and modern philosophy, science, and civilization would not be possible without it. The whole notion of an individual identity (along with “objectivity” and all such logos-related phenomena) that we take for granted is something that actually has evolved in the history of culture, in the history of language – a change that has take place by means of the technology of literacy and of writing, and the disembodiment that writing makes possible, the disembedding of words from their social context.Laura–the person who first recommended the Ong to me said the same thing, re: Barfield! Mythos & Logos: Home page of Brent Dean Robbins dedicated to the promotion of existential-phenomenological philosophy, psychology and literature, as well as psychoanalytic thought, perennial philosophy, myth & metaphor: Links | Existential-Phenomenology | Psychoanalysis | About the Webmaster | Perennial Philosophy | Myth & Metaphor | Janus Head. But a basic respect for and worshipful disposition toward the values the gods represented was part of the foundation of ancient Greek civilization. is about generating stories, images and symbols which can provide our emotions . In cultural anthropology, and archaeology the understanding of what constitutes religion involves beliefs, oral traditions, practices and rituals, as well as the related material culture including artifacts, landscapes, structural features and This chapter presents a model of sacred place and sacred place-making that may contribute to the social science literatures
Part III examines its subsequent decline and its contemporary legacy within and beyond orthodox Buddhism. The terms “mythos” and “logos” are used to describe the transition in ancient Greek thought from the stories of gods, goddesses, and heroes (mythos) to the gradual development of rational philosophy and logic (logos). Socrates and Plato denounced many of the early myths of the Greeks, but they also illustrated philosophical points with stories that were meant to serve as analogies or metaphors. Thanks for this VERY thought-provoking article, Randy! I have the Ong at home and hope to read it sooner rather than later. I don’t think it was a coincidence that the city of Athens, whose patron goddess was Athena, went on to produce some of the greatest philosophers the world has seen — love of wisdom is the prerequisite for knowledge, and that love of wisdom grew out of the culture of Athens. Our knowledge about surrounding reality is more than often insufficient to make logical conclusions or presumptions.Pop-culture, advertising, political campaigns, media news … all rely on mythical thinking.Almost nothing has changed from the times of Socrates. In seeking to understand the world and communicate, humans conceive of mythos (mythological means of mapping, sensing, communicating). You must master mythical thinking, if you want to master (Finnic or other) epic singing (unless you want to be a disguised parrot). Which is something very interesting in and of itself: why is it that one kind of message reaches (DEEPLY reaches) some people in an audience, while that same message just bounces off the minds of others in that audience…? :-)Oooh, I love Laura’s reading list! Und worin besteht der Schritt vom Mythos zum Logos? spiritual practices and (b) exploring how sacred places may directly and indirectly affect human well-being. (One excellent section of his book has the provocative title “The Awkwardness of Rational Language.”) He uses the mysteries related to Demeter and Persephone practiced in ancient Greece at Eleusis, a coastal city outside of Athens, as his primary example of mythical thinking throughout the book.It has long been taken for granted that Greek society moved from This two-volume series explores Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from many different perspectives. Rock art landscapes convey knowledge about sacred and spiritual ecology from generation to generation. Studies from a number of different cultural areas and time periods explore how rock art engages the emotions, materializes thoughts and actions, and reflects religious organization as it intersects with sociopolitical cultural systems. Thanks for all this, fascinating stuff!My thinking is that after the demise of postmodern thinking, our attention should not be on an dichotomy discourse between Logos and Mythos but more towards a ‘oscillation’ condition between Logos and Mythos.Thank you for this great article. Logos grew out of its origins in mythos, and retains elements of mythos to this day. Still I hate the daily practice of presenting mythical arguments for the logical ones in politics.People should be aware, that there is nothing wrong with mythical thinking in the spheres, where it works well and they could admit themselves, that they think this way all the time.there is a terrific British play called ‘Jerusalem’ which is now on Broadway.