CLT 3370 Exam 3 Essays Flashcards
Interpretation 1- Enlightenment
(time period and main argument)
18th cen.
Questioned traditional teachings in myth and church, asked “what is the value of mythology?”
Used logic and reason to determine what myths were trying to say
Interpretation 2- Romanticism
(time period and main argument)
Late 18th to 19th cen.
Rejected Enlightenment’s rationalism and embraced emotion
Saw myth as a way to discover timeless truths about how we (humans) perceive the world
Interpretation 3- Linguistics
(time period and main argument)
20th cen.
Discovery of a common mother language (Indo-European language family)
Mother language concept applied to myth/culture and looking at similarities across them
Myth can be studied to better understand human culture as a whole
Similarities & differences- Enlightenment and Romanticism
Very different, logic v. emotion
Romanticism emerged from direct opposition to Enlightenment
Similarities & differences- Enlightenment and Linguistic Analysis
More reason-based approaches, less variable compared to Romantisicm (emotions are variable)
Worth noting that the quality/need for evidence in the 18th cen. was not as strong as in the 20th cen., so this point can be taken with a grain of salt
Similarities & differences- Romanticism and Linguistic Analysis
Both have a social science approach
Both focus on the common aspects of humanity, also less racist and more multicultural appreciation
Both sought connections across cultures and peoples
Interpretations as reflections of the time- Enlightenment
(politics, key writers/texts and their ideas)
Peak colonization times
Bernard Fontenelle, “The Origin of Fables” (1724) argued that myths held no truth/reflected the ignorance of earlier cultures to the world, saw these earlier cultures as primitive
Interpretations as reflections of the time- Romanticism
(politics, key writers/texts and their ideas)
Opposition to Enlightenment/ rationalism
Also heavily influenced communism (“Communist Manifesto” written in 1848)
Johann Bachofen, “Mother Right” (1861) claimed myth reflected early human social structures
Interpretations as reflections of the time- Linguistic Analysis
(politics, key writers/texts and their ideas)
Late 19th cen. foundations: rise of anthropology, viewed myth as an incorrect proto-science (Edward Tylor, “Primitive Culture” 1871)
20th cen. globalization
People were more eager to look for similarities across cultures/validate other cultures than find differences
How the interpretation has stuck- Enlightenment
Not much, doesn’t acknowledge that people just like good stories sometimes
Could argue that Enlightenment’s desire for critical analysis helped pave the way for future studies of myth and science in general
How the interpretation has stuck- Romanticism
Brought appreciation of human creativity to myth interpretations
May have had a too extreme focus on emotion but did humanize early people and cultures
How the interpretation has stuck- Linguistic Analysis
Most recent interpretation= likely (definitely) holds most weight on modern interpretations
Began Indo-European comparative myth studies (finding common elements of stories in related languages)
Broadened myth studies to not see a culture’s myths as isolated
