Meaning And Being In Myth

Author : Norman Austin
Publisher : Penn State Press
Page : 280 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2010-11-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0271039450

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Meaning and Being in Myth by Norman Austin Pdf

Norman Austin has organized his analysis of classical Greek myths around Lacan's dichotomy between (ineffable) Being and the meanings imposed upon Being by culturally determined signifiers. The primary signifiers in myth (the gods), as projections of contradictory meanings, impel human consciousness in contradictory directions: toward heroic self-realization, on the one hand, and into the fear, guilt, and despair resulting from failure, on the other. The gods both reveal and occlude that which they signify--the signified; ultimately, Being itself. Austin includes one chapter on the father's ghost in Shakespeare's Hamlet, and another on Albert Camus's The Stranger, as examples of the power of mythical archetypes to reveal and occlude Being, even when the apparatus of gods has been excluded. Despite their pessimism, ancient myths also affirm that the paradoxes are not insoluble. Austin concludes by outlining the profile of the Universal Self intimated in myth, religion, and philosophy as the joint venture of the world realized in consciousness, consciousness realized in consciousness, and consciousness realized in the world.

Author : Claude Lévi-Strauss
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 63 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2003-09-02
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781134522316

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Myth and Meaning by Claude Lévi-Strauss Pdf

In addresses written for a wide general audience, one of the twentieth century's most prominent thinkers, Claude Lévi-Strauss, here offers the insights of a lifetime on the crucial questions of human existence. Responding to questions as varied as 'Can there be meaning in chaos?', 'What can science learn from myth?' and 'What is structuralism?', Lévi-Strauss presents, in clear, precise language, essential guidance for those who want to learn more about the potential of the human mind.

Author : G. S. Kirk
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2023-09-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780520342378

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Myth by G. S. Kirk Pdf

This book attempts to come to grips with a set of widely ranging but connected problems concerning myths: their relation to folktales on the one hand, to rituals on the other; the validity and scope of the structuralist theory of myth; the range of possible mythical functions; the effects of developed social institutions and literacy; the character and meaning of ancient Near-Eastern myths and their influence on Greece; the special forms taken by Greek myths and their involvement with rational modes of thought; the status of myths as expressions of the unconscious, as allied with dreams, as universal symbols, or as accidents of primarily narrative aims. Almost none of these problems has been convincingly handled, even in a provisional way, up to the present, and this failure has vitiated not only such few general discussions as exist of the nature, meanings and functions of myths but also, in many cases, the detailed assessment of individual myths of different cultures. The need for a coherent treatment of these and related problems, and one that is not concerned simply to propagate a particular universalistic theory, seems undeniable. How far the present book will satisfactorily fill such a need remains to be seen. At least it makes a beginning, even if in doing so it risks the criticism of being neither fish nor fowl. Sociologists and folklorists may find it, from their specialized viewpoints, a little simplistic in places; and a few classical colleagues will not forgive me for straying far beyond Greek myths, even though these can hardly be understood in isolation or solely in the light of studies in cult and ritual. Others may find it less easy than anthropologists, sociologists, historians of thought or students of French and English literature to accept the relevance of Levi-Strauss to some of these matters; but his theory contains the one important new idea in this field since Freud, it is complicated and largely untested, and it demands careful attention from anyone attempting a broad understanding of the subject. The beliefs of Freud and Jung, on the other hand, are a more familiar element in the situation and have given rise to an enormous secondary literature, much of it arbitrary and some of it absurd. The author has tried to isolate the crucial ideas and subject them to a pointed, if too brief, critique; so too with those of Ernst Cassirer.

Author : Stephen C. Ausband
Publisher : Mercer University Press
Page : 144 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2000-09-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0865548994

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Myth and Meaning, Myth and Order by Stephen C. Ausband Pdf

Author : Neel Burton
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2021-04-15
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 191326016X

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The Meaning of Myth by Neel Burton Pdf

Not just the stories, but what they mean. What is myth, and why does it have such a hold on the human mind? How does myth relate to near forms such as legend and fairy tale, and to other modes of understanding such as religion and science? What is a hero, what is a monster, and what function does magic serve? How has our relationship with myth and mythology changed over the centuries? And are there any modern myths? These are a few of the fascinating questions that psychiatrist and philosopher Neel Burton explores in the first part of this book. In the second part, he puts theory into practice to unravel 12 of the most captivating Greek myths, including Echo and Narcissus, Eros and Psyche, and Prometheus and Pandora. These myths have been haunting us for millennia, but are they really, as has been claimed, the repositories of deep wisdom and mystical secrets? Get your copy now to find out.

Author : Joseph Campbell
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 263 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Mythology
ISBN : OCLC:852677507

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Transformations of Myth Through Time by Joseph Campbell Pdf

Author : Claude Lévi-Strauss
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Page : 65 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 1978-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780802063489

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Myth and Meaning by Claude Lévi-Strauss Pdf

In these five lectures originally prepared for the CBC, Claude Lévi-Strauss, one of the world's greatest living thinkers, offers the insights of a lifetime spent interpreting myths and trying to discover their significance for human understanding.

Author : Aniela Jaffé
Publisher : Daimon
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 1986
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 3856305009

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The Myth of Meaning in the Work of C.G. Jung by Aniela Jaffé Pdf

Aniela JeffÃ(c) explores the subjective world of inner experience. In so doing, she follows the path of the pioneering Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung, whose collaborator and friend she was through the final decades of his life. Frau JaffÃ(c) shows that any search of meaning ultimately leads to the inner mythical realm and must be understood as a limited subjective attempt to answer the unanswerable. Any conclusion drawn from such a quest is one's very own - its formulation is one's own myth.

Author : G. S. Kirk
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 1973-06-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9780520023895

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Myth by G. S. Kirk Pdf

This book, developed out of the 1969 Sather lectures at Berkeley, California, confronts a wide range of problems concerning the nature, meaning and functions of myths. Professor Kirk's aim is to introduce a degree of coherence and of critical awareness into a subject that arouses profound interest today, but which for too long has been the target of excessive theorizing and interdisciplinary confusion between anthropologists, sociologists, classicists, philosophers and psychologists. Professor Kirk begins by discussing the relation of myths to rituals and folktales, and the weakness of universalist theories of function. He then subjects Lévi-Strauss's structuralist theory to an extended exposition and criticism; he considers the character and meaning of ancient Near Eastern myths, their influence on Greece, and the special forms with rational modes of thought, and finally, he assesses the status of myths as expressions of the unconscious, as elements of dreams, universal symbols, as accidents along the way to some narrative objective. The result is a significant critical venture into the history and philosophy of thought, imagination, symbol and society.--From publisher description.

Author : Max John Herzberg
Publisher : Allyn & Bacon
Page : 404 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 1984
Category : Social Science
ISBN : IND:39000005523209

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Myths and Their Meaning by Max John Herzberg Pdf

Author : Rollo May
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 324 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 1991-05-01
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780393240771

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The Cry for Myth by Rollo May Pdf

Here are case studies in which myths have helped Dr. May's patients make sense out of an often senseless world. It happens almost daily in a therapist's office. A patient, recalling a person, an event, an emotion, quite unexpectedly supplies a link from a life in the present to one of the durable myths of our culture. In this moment, the myth becomes a mirror, revealing to the patient the source of disturbance and pain in a pattern of behavior that often stretches a year or longer. The healing process begins. The myth, "eternity breaking into time" in Rollo Mays's words, becomes the focal point of recovery. Through tracing myths – whether from classical Greece and Dante's Middle Ages, European legend (Faust and the prototype of Sleeping Beauty), or contemporary American life (Jay Gatsby) -- and relating them to the dreams and associations he encounters in his own practice, Dr. May provides meaning and structure for all who seek direction in a morally confusing world. In this, perhaps the finest achievement of a great therapist, Rollo May writes with "the grace, wit, and style: for which he recently received the Gold Medal of the American Psychological Society.

Author : Jim Head,MacLea, Linda
Publisher : CSBE Publications
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2000-08
Category : Mythology
ISBN : 0968113443

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Myth & Meaning by Jim Head,MacLea, Linda Pdf

Author : J.F. Bierlein
Publisher : Ballantine Books
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2010-02-10
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9780307434388

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Living Myths by J.F. Bierlein Pdf

An intriguing exploration of the enduring significance of the world's great myths--from the dawn of time to the present day As ancient as speech, as essential as law, myths are the stories we tell to find our identity in the cosmos. It is through mythology that we attempt to unravel not only the meaning of our actions and impulses but the significance of human existence itself. Now in Living Myths, classical scholar J. F. Bierlein explores the enduring patterns and messages of myths from every culture. Myths, writes Bierlein, are "the eternal mirror in which we see ourselves." Living Myths delves behind the mirror and brings to light the imperishable and transcendent forces common to the myths of the world. Juxtaposing myths of fathers and sons--the Greek myth of Athamas and Phrixus, the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac, the Algonquin tale of Grandfather, Father, and Son--Bierlein uncovers essential lessons about human nature and divine will. In the Indian story of Nala and Damayanti, the Greek legends of Aphrodite, and the haunting Irish tale of Etain, Bierlein examines the transforming mystery of romantic love. Here too are tales of the world's great heroes--the Greek Theseus, the Irish Cuchulainn, and the Mexican Quetzalcoatl--and their common desire to break through the masks of appearances. Steeped in wisdom, brimming with insights into human nature and behavior, Living Myths is a luminous exploration of the meaning of mythology through the ages and today in each of our lives.

Author : Claude Levi-Strauss
Publisher : National Geographic Books
Page : 76 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 1995-03-14
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : UCSC:32106016666999

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Myth and Meaning by Claude Levi-Strauss Pdf

The meeting of myth and science - Primitive thinking and the civilizad mind - Harelips and twins : the splitting of a myth - When myth becomes history - Myth and music.

Author : Robert Alan Segal
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 161 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : Myth
ISBN : 9780198724704

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Myth by Robert Alan Segal Pdf

Where do myths come from? What is their function and what do they mean? In this Very Short Introduction Robert Segal introduces the array of approaches used to understand the study of myth. These approaches hail from disciplines as varied as anthropology, sociology, psychology, literary criticism, philosophy, science, and religious studies. Including ideas from theorists as varied as Sigmund Freud, Claude Levi-Strauss, Albert Camus, and Roland Barthes, Segal uses the famous ancient myth of Adonis to analyse their individual approaches and theories. In this new edition, he not only considers the future study of myth, but also considers the interactions of myth theory with cognitive science, the implications of the myth of Gaia, and the differences between story-telling and myth. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.