Myth vs. Logos: A Philosophical Journey Through Time
Myth vs. Logos: A Philosophical Perspective
Myth: Myth embodies personification and deification through stories. World events depend on gods acting capriciously. Objects acquire properties based on their nature.
Logos: In contrast to the arbitrariness of myth, logos emphasizes necessity. Events happen when, where, and how they must. Logos uses ordered laws to create a cosmos from chaos. In logos, appearance aligns with the essence of unchanging reality.
Myth causes distress and ignorance about the future. Logos offers confidence in reason’s explanatory power. Myth relies on tradition and blind obedience, while logos champions critical capacity, dialogue, analysis, and synthesis.
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
Plato’s Cave allegory has four stages:
- Shadows of objects reflected on the cave wall.
- Objects illuminated by fire.
- Objects illuminated by moonlight.
- The sun, representing true knowledge.
The First Greek Thinker
Thales of Miletus offered explanations based on reason, contrasting with mythic and religious accounts of reality.
Specializations in Philosophy
- Metaphysics: The transcendent; Ideas = Being.
- Ontology: The study of material objects.
- Epistemology: Theory of Knowledge and the scientific research method.
- Philosophy of Science: History of the discovery process.
- Logic (Aristotelian): Principles of valid reasoning.
- Ethics: Reflections on human behavior and values.
- Anthropology: Reflection on the origin of humans.
- Aesthetics: Reflection on the creative process.
- Theodicy: Reflections on the existence of God.
Characteristics of Philosophy
- Sound: Seeks answers to fundamental questions of human understanding.
- Global: Aims to explain all beings from their most profound principles.
- Radical: Addresses essential issues and the meaning of human existence and freedom.
Ancient Philosophy: Pre-Socratic philosophers include Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Thales of Miletus. Parmenides believed nothing changes, stating, “Being is, and cannot not be.” Heraclitus argued everything is in constant flux. Parmenides and Heraclitus formed a dualistic theory separating the world of sensible ideas.
Medieval Philosophy:
Saint Augustine (I believe) wrote “Confessions,” considered the first autobiography. Saint Anselm’s ontological argument contained a flaw: essence does not equal existence.
Saint Thomas Aquinas: Gathered arguments based on:
- Empirical evidence.
- Establishing a causal chain.
- The causal chain cannot be infinite; it requires a beginning.
- That beginning is God.
Modern Philosophy: Ancient history centered on nature, medieval history on God, and modern history on the Human Being.
- Empiricism: All knowledge comes from experience. “To be is to be perceived.” We are born with a blank mind.
- Rationalism: We are born with axioms. Euclidean axioms (parallel lines) are self-evident and cannot be false.
Empirical Problems: No one knows the future; science is not 100% certain.
Rationalism Problems: What is the origin of the axioms? God -> axiom -> World.
Contemporary Philosophy:
- Positivism: Represents the first opposition to Hegel, rejecting metaphysical aspiration and absolute knowledge.
- Marxism: Collects rationales from Hegelian dialectic, representing a radical reaction to Hegel’s absolute idealism.
- Vitalism: Nietzsche defends life against the irrational rationality of science.
- Analytical Philosophy: Considers errors in thinking to be linguistic mistakes, focusing on logical issues. Wittgenstein: mismatched words lack meaning.
Characteristics of Current Myths:
- Lacks scientific explanation.
- Conditions the beliefs of people.