modern thinking, -isms & -ologies

Question 1

What are the three categories of myth?

Answer 1

1. divine myth
2. legends
3. folktale

Question 2

What are three aspects of divine myth?

Answer 2

1. Supernatural beings are the main actors.
2. Generally explains why the world is the way it is.
3. Stories which are seen as truthful accounts of what happened in the past within the society they are told.

Question 3

What are other names divine myth is sometimes called?

Answer 3

1. True myths
2. Myths proper

Question 4

What is another name for legends?

Answer 4

Sagas

Question 5

What are three aspects of legends?

Answer 5

1. Stories of great deeds performed by human heroes.
2. Narrate the events of the human past.
3. Prose narratives seen as true by the narrator and his audience but are set in a period considered less remote.

Question 6

What are four aspects of folktales?

Answer 6

1. Actors are ordinary people or animals.
2. These stories are meant to entertain the audience
3. Can teach or justify customary patterns of behavior.
4. Prose narratives are regarded as fiction.

Question 7

Why is it misleading to distinguish separate categories of myth?

Answer 7

ELEMENTS OF EACH KIND ARE SEEN IN MOST MYTHS; OVERLAP.

Question 8

Why is it misleading to distinguish legends from divine myth and folktales?

Answer 8

1. Heroic tales usually involve gods and can be etiological (explanatory).
2. They also employ folktale motifs.

Question 9

What are the two specific ways of trying to interpret myth?

Answer 9

1. The ‘what is it’ approach - representation/symbolism
2. The ‘what does it mean’ approach - teleological

Question 10

Rationalism is considered to be what kind of approach?

Answer 10

Teleological.

Question 11

What is the most famous example of bad etymology?

Answer 11

Confusing Cronus (the titan that fathered Zeus and ate his children) with Chronos (time).
-This confusion is why the grim reaper is depicted with a silver scythe, it resembles a sickle which Cronus used to castrate Uranus.

Question 12

What is a risk of believing that there are ‘hidden meanings’ in mythological accounts?

Answer 12

The risk is of finding something that isn’t actual there.

Question 13

What are three ways theory can distort myth?

Answer 13

1. Belief in hidden meanings
2. Separating the ancient and modern worlds
3. Bias

Question 14

What is the mentality often had when comparing the ancient world to modernity?

Answer 14

The ancient world is seen as primitive, underdeveloped, and simple while the modern world is viewed as advanced.

Question 15

Theory and interpretation is a product of what?

Answer 15

It’s a product of its own time and place.
-Theorizing and interpretation says as much, if not more, about the interpreter as it does about the myth itself.

Question 16

Are ancients infantilized and looked down upon throughout history and modern interpretations?

Answer 16

YES

Question 17

In terms of moral allegory, how did Fulgentius interpret the judgement of Troy?

Answer 17

Fulgentius believed the story was an allegory for identifying three separate life styles, through this interpretation he moralizes the story.

Question 18

Where did Neoplatonism come from? What is the belief?

Answer 18

1. An ideology established in the Roman period, built from the Platonic ethics and epistemology.
2. The belief is that mind is the ultimate principle allowing an individual to reach the divine.
   -Christ is seen as the bridge from the ‘worse’ to the ‘better’ world.

Question 19

What are 5 ways to interpret myth?

Answer 19

1. Enlightenment Rationalism
2. Vico’s Ages: Teleology
3. Romanticism
4. Anthropology
5. Myth as Charter (a form of justification)

Question 20

What are 4.5 ‘modern’ ways of interpreting myth?

Answer 20

1. Solar Phenomenon - Muller
2. Comparative mythology
3. Psychology - FREUD
4. Structuralism - Levi Strauss
   4.5. Structuralism’s socio-historical application

Question 21

What is enlightenment rationalism?

Answer 21

Popular view during the time of the enlightenment (1700-1800). The belief was that the ‘new world’ was advanced and antiquity was primitive and simple therefore it was often looked down upon.

Question 21

What are Vico’s Ages? What does this idea represent?

Answer 21

Vico’s Ages are separated into three stages:
1. Age of Gods - state of nature, primitive.
2. Age of Heroes - state of society.
3. Age of Humanity - state of science.
-He believed in the gradual progression and advancement of civilization, each age being more advanced than the last.

Question 22

What is romanticism? What caused its development?

Answer 22

1. The belief that myth contains lost, hidden truths. Interested in the feelings myths invoke and the cross-cultural similarities of myth.
2. It was created in response to enlightenment rationalism, it is anti-enlightenment.

Question 23

What is an anthropological approach? What is it built on? How does it view myth?

Answer 23

1. The belief that through natural selection, the animal world progresses from one state to another. This is ‘proved’ through anthropologic and scientific evidence.
2. It’s built on Darwinism and evolution.
3. Myth is bad science. Myth does what science does but science does it better.

Question 24

What does myth being viewed as charter mean?

Answer 24

Myth as Charter is a way of explaining or justifying cultural norms and expectations. Taking myth and attaching it to a purpose.

Question 25

What is the Solar Phenomenon?

Answer 25

Coined by Muller, he believed that instead of myth being about divine beings, it was representative of the solar system. -It can either be seen as myth explaining certain solar events or certain solar events spawning myths.

Question 26

What is comparative mythology? What is the main motivator for this approach?

Answer 26

1. Comparative mythology comes from the knowledge that many cultures share myths and they can occur or reoccur in various places and cultures. 2. Linguistics is the main motivator, there is a recognized 'social grammar' of myth meaning there are consistent structural and organizational aspects within myth from all over.

Question 27

Who is the most famous example of psychology interpretation of myth? What was his theory based on? What did he claim the theory represented?

Answer 27

1. Freud - Oedipus complex 2. Oedipus enacted his own prophecy without knowing, in short he fucked his mom and killed his dad. 3. Freud claimed this theory represented a subconscious desire that everyone has; to fuck their opposite gendered parent and kill their same gendered parent.

Question 28

What is structuralism? Who is a key figure?

Answer 28

1. Structuralism is the belief that there is a universe of opposites. The opposites provide structure and meaning but also need to be reconciled and dissolved into one another. 2. The key figure is Levi Strauss. -ex. binary; man & woman, night & day etc.

Question 29

Why is Prometheus seen as an icon for Romantics?

Answer 29

He was willing to defy Zeus in order to help humans, a symbol for counterculture.