Myths and MythologiesA Reader
Jeppe Sinding Jensen
Series: Critical Categories in the Study of Religion Hardback Price £70.00/$110.00 Paperback Price £16.99/$27.95 |     |
Description
In all cultures and at all times, humans have been telling stories about who they were, what the world and human life is about. To the insider, myths may contain Truth (with a capital ‘T’), revelation and the ‘history of ourselves’; whereas to the outsider it may be considered anything from folly and pre-logical mentality, to neurotic, infantile and ‘wishful thinking’.
Such judgements aside, myths tell us about human creativity, the impact of narrativity on human ways of understanding, on cultural epistemologies and the many ways of ‘world making’. These issues also spark considerations concerning the linguistic and philosophical notions of meaning and truth and the peculiarities of religious language.
The controversial issue of myth has been studied from many different angles. In this volume the contributions are edited according to their theoretical perspectives: 1. philosophical, 2. psychological, 3. sociological, 4. semiological and 5. cognitivist, all with introduction by the editor.
This volume will be an indispensable tool for anyone with a serious interest in this field of study.
In all cultures and at all times, humans have been telling stories about who they were, what the world and human life is about. To the insider, myths may contain Truth (with a capital ‘T’), revelation and the ‘history of ourselves’; whereas to the outsider it may be considered anything from folly and pre-logical mentality, to neurotic, infantile and ‘wishful thinking’.
Such judgements aside, myths tell us about human creativity, the impact of narrativity on human ways of understanding, on cultural epistemologies and the many ways of ‘world making’. These issues also spark considerations concerning the linguistic and philosophical notions of meaning and truth and the peculiarities of religious language.
The controversial issue of myth has been studied from many different angles. In this volume the contributions are edited according to their theoretical perspectives: 1. philosophical, 2. psychological, 3. sociological, 4. semiological and 5. cognitivist, all with introduction by the editor.
This volume will be an indispensable tool for anyone with a serious interest in this field of study.
Contents
Introduction
I. Philosophical approaches to the study of myth
Introduction
Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, ‘The transition to the higher mental types’ from How Natives Think
Susanne K. Langer, ‘Life-Symbols: The Roots of Myth’ from Philosophy in a New Key
Ernst Cassirer, ‘The place of language and myth in the pattern of human culture’ from Language and Myth
Karl Popper, ‘The Worlds 1, 2 and 3’ from ‘Indeterminism is not enough: An afterword’ in The Open Universe
John R. Searle, ‘Language and Social Reality’ from The Construction of Social Reality
II. Psychological approaches
Introduction
Friedrich Max Müller, from Comparative Mythology
Bronislaw Malinowski, ‘Myth in Primitive Psychology’ from Magic, Science and Religion
Sigmund Freud, ‘Introductory lecturers on psycho-analysis’
Mircea Eliade, ‘Cosmogonic Myth and “Sacred History”’ from The Quest
III. Sociological approaches
Introduction
Émile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss ‘Conclusion’ from Primitive Classification
George Dumézil ‘The Gods: Asir and Vanir’ from Gods of the Ancient Northmen
Mary Douglas ‘Primitive Worlds’ from Purity and Danger
Pierre Clastres ‘What Makes Indians Laugh’ from Society against the State
IV. Semiological and narratological approaches
Introduction
Claude Lévi-Strauss ‘Overture’ from The Raw and the Cooked
Marcel Detienne ‘The Myth of ‘Honeyed Orpheus’ from Myth, Religion and Society
Roland Barthes ‘Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives’ from The Semiotic Challenge
Roy Wagner ‘The Theory of Symbolic Obviation’ from Lethal Speech
V. Cognitivist approaches
Introduction
Edwin Hutchins ‘Myth and experience in the Trobriand Islands’ from Cultural Models in Language and Thought
Bradd Shore ‘Dreamtime Learning, Inside-Out: The Narrative of the Wawilak Sisters’ from Culture in Mind
Jerome Bruner ‘The Transactional Self’ from Actual Minds, Possible Worlds
Andy Clark, ‘Language: The Ultimate Artefact’ from Being There
VI. Modern Myths and Mythologies
Specifications
| ISBN-10 (Hardback) | 1904768083 |
| ISBN-13 (Hardback) | 9781904768081 |
| Price (Hardback) | £70.00/$110.00 |
| ISBN-10 (Paperback) | 1904768091 |
| ISBN-13 (Paperback) | 9781904768098 |
| Price (Paperback) | £16.99/$27.95 |
| Publication Date | April 2009 |
| Pages | 464 |
| Size | 246 x 174mm |
| Readership | undergraduates |
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