Myth. Why did myth survive the scientific and philosophic challenges of the classical Greek world - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Why did the myth survive the scientific and philosophical challenges of the classical Greek world? Introduction: Myth is some idea or a belief which is absurd and fictitious and has originated in the prehistoric times which came into being naturally and inevitably. The myths developed due to the fact that the inhospitable environment that the primitive man encountered. The origin of the myth during the prehistoric times or during the childhood of mankind might due to two reasons: one may be the fear that might have been created during an occurrence of the natural phenomenon such as thunder or storm for example, and another might be as a remembrance of the events of the past. So, as the history of the mankind developed, the language and the practices also developed along with the myth. The religion, rituals and the myths are all developed in parallel but are distinct from one another. The myths have a great part in the development of the religion. However, equating the myth with the religion is not possible. Myth is the response of the mankind to the natural environment (Graff, Fritz., et al., 1996). Over the centuries, Greek culture developed and underwent many changes in this context of the myths. Until a few centuries the Greeks were supporting myths and after the eighteenth century the Greeks used to refer the word myth by ‘muthos’ which means stories and words and started defending with the evidence of the scientific evidences and facts referred by ‘logos’. ...
So the first thing is that the myth is developed out of lack of explanations. Explanations: Myth seemed to have strong thoughts on the areas where the scientific and reasoning does not produce the results. To explain briefly, myth plays a strong role where the reasoning doesn’t seem much to offer. For example, in the case to speculate what happens after the death. A common explanation is that death is a fact and can occur to anybody regardless of their age and status of their living. If we reason out this fact the next immediate question arises is that what would happen after death and it would be related to the good and the bad lives the individual had lived through out his / her lifetime. So in order to explain this question it is sorted out that the soul of those who lived good lives would go to the Elysium and the soul of those who lived bad lives would go to the Tartarus and punished to the degree of unpleasantness. Another part where the myth played its role is the place where there is unreliable and nonexistent of historical evidences. So these kinds of explanations depend on the social, cultural and the educational background of the believer and what is actually believed. Reinforcement: The reinforcement of the political, social and ethical position of the subject in the context might also be a reason for the explanations of the myths. For example the Roman emperor Nero used to identify him with Gods in order to manipulate his image. In order to impress this myth the emperor image was cast in the coins by the architects which would image him as a god. Issues: The issues which created as a result of the reinforcement of the authority are social and cultural tensions, and dilemmas. Therefore a myth could be changed and manipulated to ...Download file to see next pagesRead More