Myth, Symbolism, and Truth by David Bidney
Myths are situations that illustrate the relationship between nature and moral honesty. Plato and Hellenistic philosophers found a way of preserving traditional authority as well as religion. On the other hand, emperor Julian and philosopher Sallustiussaw myths as truths that are visible to only the wise people. However, in the third century, Euhemerus came up with a classic expression to explain tales illustrating that they did not conceal any supernatural powers but reveal actual historical events. The emergence of Christianity has made pagan scriptures regard as myths in the West. The early churches drew their inspiration from the mythical representation of events in the bible. As a result, early church philosophers were able to use symbolism to explain the truths in both the old and new testaments.
All myths have some elements of truth, including philosophy, culture, and religion. However, the Neo-Kantian philosophy of Ernst Cassier illustrates tales as an essential part of a tradition. Cassier’s theory of symbolic forms relates that myths are autonomous forms of spirits as features that cover the production of representations. However, I do not agree with Cassier’s Neo-Kantan theory since continuous cultural civilizations cannot be a reason to explain primitive rituals and cultural beliefs. Also, it would be impossible to explain the functions of myths n society.
The Structural Study of Myth by Claude Lévi-Strauss
Societies express their beliefs and feelings, such as love, hatred, and revenge through myths. Mythical theories explain the event that occurred at a specific time. The illustration gives legends a reference value meaning that their importance lasts forever. In the Oedipus myth structure, all the examples on the same column exhibit common characteristics. However, linguists typically dismiss the approach since its impossible to explain the meaning of one word without exploring all the possible solutions. The Oedipus myth explains the inability of the culture to illustrate the reasoning that man is autochthonous to dissect the approach the human beings arise from the union between man and woman. In this regard, if a myth comprises of various components, structural explanations should account for all the characteristics.
Since all the variants in a myth could be different, the final simplification results in fundamental laws of tales, which illustrates that it is impossible to work on various tasks since we can only deal with known features. Also, there should be an account of all the available features. Thus, most works on mythical theories give unreliable results. However, I do not agree with the Oedipus myth in its explanation of the structure of the tale since it is impossible to only use two variants in explaining a particular myth.
The Semantic Approach to Myth by Philip Wheelwright
Myths refer to complex sets of stories that can be fiction or accurate illustrating deeper meanings of human life and the universe. Cassier’s Neo-Kantian approach treats myths as a subject of perspective relating that all knowledge relies on mental synthesis. Thus, a tale s a synonym for the mythopoeic consciousness of the mental state of a human being. Myths arose before languages developed. Analysis of the features of expressive language illustrates the effects of literature on the growth and spread of a legend. The consideration action of significant logic in explaining the terms and propositions of a myth demonstrates the evolution of language. However, the differences do not indicate the clear-cut outlines in any case. However, I do not agree with Cassier’s reasoning that myths illustrate the evolution of language since religious and poetic sentences are different in characteristics and style.