Summary of Dialectic of Myth and Rationalism
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A dialectic opposition (antithesis) arises when a new way of controlling reality (power) proves itself more effective than the old.
The antithesis results in repression of the old means of controlling reality—nostalgia for the old.
1. Poetry/myth had been the means of educating citizens.
2. Plato and the rational movement believed reason should educate citizens instead of myth.
3. Plato and the rise of democracy (rationalism) forced conflict between poetry/myth and philosophy.
4. The rise of rationalism weakened myth/paganism; myth was gradually repressed, producing nostalgia among the populace.
5. Christianity (mediated through Neoplatonism) ultimately synthesized the opposition between myth and rationalism, enabling myth to flourish once again in harmony with rationalism.
6. Semblance or “pattern thinking” (akin to mythical thinking yet actually preserved through Neoplatonist thought) was the prevailing logic of the Renaissance; Christianity meanwhile had continued to reign.
7. The scientific method gained dominance by proving its effectiveness in controlling reality. This led to the antithesis between materialism and “superstition”/religion.
8. Poetry was attacked in lieu of religion; prose (language of science) was hailed as preferable.
9. The rise of the novel proved that prose in the arts could be as satisfying as poetry; because poetry was written in verse, poetry and verse were conflated; there was a loss of a clear distinction between poetry and prose; the general term “literature” (meaning “imaginative verbal art”) in time gained dominance over “poetry” since it could encompass all types of writing. The loss of meaningful distinctions between categories ended up producing the notion of artistic genius as well as aesthetic taste.
10. In time science proved itself so effective as an instrument of power that it displaced Christianity (“death of God”). This constituted a repression of myth, leading to nostalgia for myth among the populace.
11. By the late 19th century, poetry had become an elite, coterie art, alienated from popular audiences, almost a form of esotericism.
12. Because the new religion (Christianity) was never conflated with poetry (paganism), as it was in ancient Greece, Christianity was at first protected from criticism.
13. Because experimental science (expressed in prose) had to weaken superstition (myth) to gain supremacy, but could not oppose Christianity head-on, it attacked the language of superstition and myth (i.e. poetry which was viewed as being written in verse).
14. Poetry’s fight to stay alive led to the weakening of verse/meter and rhyme due to the possibility of poetry being written in something closer to prose. But in reducing the verse element, poetry alienated its popular audience, and became increasingly inaccessible. The nostalgia for poetry as entertainment among the bourgeoisie and the upper classes—as it once had been—led to the formation of light verse, where meter and rhyme could reign, though without a strong mythical component. Among the proletariat, popular poetry (song and ballad) would reinforce the conflation of poetry and verse. Meanwhile most thinkers had all but forgotten that myth was once equated with poetry, in Plato’s day. The fields of light and folk verse made it almost impossible for non-elite audiences to conceive of poetry without meter, reinforcing the conflation of verse and poetry.
15. The elite coterie poets would experiment with form and ultimately pioneer prose poetry and free verse, maintaining a strong connection to myth (as would be done by Symbolist and modernist poets).
16. Still there would be nothing like Christianity to synthesize the antithesis of the new rationalism (science) and myth. Poetry could not accomplish this, since it had become an elite field.
17. With the rise of novelistic science fiction, alongside new media such as television and film, there would finally be something like a dialectical synthesis, yet nothing so unifying and coherent as what Christianity was able to accomplish.
18. Elite artists and the avant-garde meanwhile strove to bring about such a synthesis, but were unsuccessful. Compared to fascism and popular entertainment, their efforts were fairly trivial.
. . .
A dialectic opposition (antithesis) arises when a new way of controlling reality (power) proves itself more effective than the old.
The antithesis results in repression of the old means of controlling reality—nostalgia for the old.
1. Poetry/myth had been the means of educating citizens.
2. Plato and the rational movement believed reason should educate citizens instead of myth.
3. Plato and the rise of democracy (rationalism) forced conflict between poetry/myth and philosophy.
4. The rise of rationalism weakened myth/paganism; myth was gradually repressed, producing nostalgia among the populace.
5. Christianity (mediated through Neoplatonism) ultimately synthesized the opposition between myth and rationalism, enabling myth to flourish once again in harmony with rationalism.
6. Semblance or “pattern thinking” (akin to mythical thinking yet actually preserved through Neoplatonist thought) was the prevailing logic of the Renaissance; Christianity meanwhile had continued to reign.
7. The scientific method gained dominance by proving its effectiveness in controlling reality. This led to the antithesis between materialism and “superstition”/religion.
8. Poetry was attacked in lieu of religion; prose (language of science) was hailed as preferable.
9. The rise of the novel proved that prose in the arts could be as satisfying as poetry; because poetry was written in verse, poetry and verse were conflated; there was a loss of a clear distinction between poetry and prose; the general term “literature” (meaning “imaginative verbal art”) in time gained dominance over “poetry” since it could encompass all types of writing. The loss of meaningful distinctions between categories ended up producing the notion of artistic genius as well as aesthetic taste.
10. In time science proved itself so effective as an instrument of power that it displaced Christianity (“death of God”). This constituted a repression of myth, leading to nostalgia for myth among the populace.
11. By the late 19th century, poetry had become an elite, coterie art, alienated from popular audiences, almost a form of esotericism.
12. Because the new religion (Christianity) was never conflated with poetry (paganism), as it was in ancient Greece, Christianity was at first protected from criticism.
13. Because experimental science (expressed in prose) had to weaken superstition (myth) to gain supremacy, but could not oppose Christianity head-on, it attacked the language of superstition and myth (i.e. poetry which was viewed as being written in verse).
14. Poetry’s fight to stay alive led to the weakening of verse/meter and rhyme due to the possibility of poetry being written in something closer to prose. But in reducing the verse element, poetry alienated its popular audience, and became increasingly inaccessible. The nostalgia for poetry as entertainment among the bourgeoisie and the upper classes—as it once had been—led to the formation of light verse, where meter and rhyme could reign, though without a strong mythical component. Among the proletariat, popular poetry (song and ballad) would reinforce the conflation of poetry and verse. Meanwhile most thinkers had all but forgotten that myth was once equated with poetry, in Plato’s day. The fields of light and folk verse made it almost impossible for non-elite audiences to conceive of poetry without meter, reinforcing the conflation of verse and poetry.
15. The elite coterie poets would experiment with form and ultimately pioneer prose poetry and free verse, maintaining a strong connection to myth (as would be done by Symbolist and modernist poets).
16. Still there would be nothing like Christianity to synthesize the antithesis of the new rationalism (science) and myth. Poetry could not accomplish this, since it had become an elite field.
17. With the rise of novelistic science fiction, alongside new media such as television and film, there would finally be something like a dialectical synthesis, yet nothing so unifying and coherent as what Christianity was able to accomplish.
18. Elite artists and the avant-garde meanwhile strove to bring about such a synthesis, but were unsuccessful. Compared to fascism and popular entertainment, their efforts were fairly trivial.
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