Myth and the Mythological in Modern Society

In everyday usage, myth is a synonym for an unreliable story and fiction. For the later romantics, myth was a legend, a symbolic expression of certain events that took place among certain peoples at a certain time, at the dawn of their history. At present, people are talking about the mythologization of well-known concepts, due to which the phenomena underlying these concepts, being rationally imperceptible, require an awed attitude. Such concepts can be, for example, the concept of the state, people, society, technology. In contrast, demythologization is discussed to the extent that some of the inherited religious-mythological views and concepts, in contrast to their mythical content, must be explained according to the historical reasons underlying them. There is a plurality of interpretations of the essence of the mythological, different theories of myth. In the article, myth and the mythological are interpreted as a cultural form of the existence of values. Values are the ultimate basis of human choice. In this thesis lies the answer why mythological thinking, from the moment of its appearance to the present day, imbues the world with meaning setting and goal setting. Values mark the limits of human-ization of the world opposed to man. Historically, two cultural matrices are constituted: the value choice matrix and the rational choice matrix. All significant social changes accompany conflicts arising between these cultural forms. The forms of direct representation of myth and the mythological can be a narrative or a concept. In the latter case, it is customary to use the concept of ideology. Myth always plays a significant role in social life, serving as a basis of human activity. If there are new tasks that are not justified by the existing mythology, then a new mythology is formed. Yet this new mythology necessarily includes the element of the impossible.

Keywords

Authors

References