Defining Mythology for Our Modern (Yet Still Mythic) World
What is mythology? There are plenty of possible answers to this question, but I want to highlight some I’ve come cross lately.
First, here is an academic summary from Efrat Tseelon that I find both lovely (in a jargony, academese kind of way) and expansive.
What is a myth? There is a diversity of modern approaches to myth and a fragmentation of its study. According to the dictionary of literary terms (Cuddon, 1991) a myth is a story which involves supernatural beings. It is always concerned with creation, often with explanations of the natural order. In fact its nature is not as clear-cut as this definition implies. Myth has been defined as a metaphorical form of explanation of natural or social phenomena (Kirk, 1974), which reveals and shapes fundamental values of the society and attitudes toward life (Halbertal and Margalit, 1992), as a form of poetic symbolic expression (in the work of Cassirer), as validating social institutions (Malinowski), justifying a ritual (Frazer, Raglan), creating and maintaining social cohesion (Durkheim)(Cohen, 1969), as expression of individual unconscious fantasy and the collective unconscious (Freud, Jung, Fromm), and as a device for resolving contradictions or oppositions (Lévi-Strauss, 1958; Leach, 1969; Kirk, 1970). In terms of its validity it has occupied the whole range from being considered a primitive pre-scientific mode of thought and contrasted (in pre-socratic times) with logos, to being considered an alternative mode for investigating areas of reality that cannot be explained by discursive language or scientific method. In eighteenth century Enlightenment an evolutionary mode of thought (e.g. Tylor, Frazer) viewed primitive pre-scientific thinking as characteristic of the “savage mind” and contrasted with scientific rationalistic thought (Fischer, 1963). In nineteenth century Romanticism mythic thought was treated as a source of knowledge of a non-scientific kind, a high mode of mystical truth, poetic truth, a creative process and a symbolic expression of fundamental existential insights (Bidney, 1967). The twentieth century saw a second revival of sympathetic interest in myth in the works of Nietzsche and Freud including acknowledgement of the Dionysian, violent, irrational side in the work of Sorel (Rouanet, 1964).
Second, here is a more succinct and less academic definition from World History Encyclopedia:
Mythology (from the Greek mythos for story-of-the-people, and logos for word or speech, so the spoken story of a people) is the study and interpretation of often sacred tales or fables of a culture known as myths or the collection of such stories which deal with various aspects of the human condition: good and evil; the meaning of suffering; human origins; the origin of place-names, animals, cultural values, and traditions; the meaning of life and death; the afterlife; and celestial stories of the gods or a god. Myths express the beliefs and values about these subjects held by a certain culture.
This third definition is one I appreciate because it touches on an idea I often espouse about the relation of myths to modern life:
Myths are stories that are based on tradition. Some may have factual origins, while others are completely fictional. But myths are more than mere stories and they serve a more profound purpose in ancient and modern cultures. Myths are sacred tales that explain the world and man’s experience. Myths are as relevant to us today as they were to the ancients. Myths answer timeless questions and serve as a compass to each generation. The myths of lost paradise, for example, give people hope that by living a virtuous life, they can earn a better life in the hereafter. The myths of a golden age give people hope that there are great leaders who will improve their lives. The hero’s quest is a model for young men and women to follow, as they accept adult responsibilities. Some myths simply reassure, such as myths that explain natural phenomena as the actions of gods, rather than arbitrary events of nature….Each generation of storytellers adds another layer of fact and fiction to the myths, such that the themes and characters of myths are timeless, and endlessly relevant, as they are reinvented and reapplied to the lives of each new generation.
The previous definition is closest to my own, which is even more inclusive:
Mythology refers to the narratives that give, or have given, people their systems of belief or that express their viewpoints about existence. In other words, myths are the stories we tell ourselves about how the cosmos works, what it means, and our own places within it.
Sure, many myths refer to supernatural beings (at term that deserves its own post) but not all of them. Some are origins stories, but not all. Some a pre-scientific explanations for what we today think of as natural phenomena, but not all. Some are ancient, but many are modern as well.
In short, there are exceptions to nearly every rule you can apply to the word mythology. That’s why I think a simpler and more inclusive definition is better. We need one that fits our modern lives, one that–if you will–expels some of the myths about mythology.
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