Download Euhemerus` Theory

Euhemerus’ Theory
Historical Facts
Muller’s Theory
• Represents Nature Divinities
• Heroes are symbolic for the sun in
one of its phases.
Tylor’s Theory
• Man’s effort to account for the
unexplainable occurrences in
dreams.
• animals had souls
Malinowski’s Theory
• Disagreed with Tylor
• Emphasized the psychological
conditions that lead man to create
myths.
Frazer’s Theory
• Cycle of Nature
–Birth
–Growth
–Decay
–Death
–Rebirth
Myth and Society
• Mitra & Varuna
Indra
Emile Durkheim 1800’s
Sociologist
• Myth plays a role in understanding
society as a whole.
• Believed that every society
establishes certain social institutions
and values, which are reflected in the
society's religion.
• Collective Representations of Values
Georges Dumezil,
Modern French scholar
• Influenced by Durkheim
• Studied Indo-European Myth
• Indo-European Divinities collective
representations of the caste (class)
system
• Mitra/Varuna represent Brahman or
priest caste; the highest caste in
Hindu society.
Myth and the Individual
Carl Jung psychoanalyst 1900’s
• Myths reflect attitudes and behavior
of individuals (controversial).
• Collective unconscious formed by
personal experiences in the world as
filtered through the senses.
• Inherited and shared by all members
of his race. (Depression)
Carl Jung Archetypes include
Myth, Fairy/Folk Tales, Art
• Home of the gods, underworlds
• Heroes: battle between
generations for control of a
throne
• Themes: love, revenge, greed,
family
Diversity of Theories
• Anthropological – origins, customs
• Allegorical – symbolic narrative
• Philological – literary texts, written records
• Solaristic – Operating Environment
• Rationalistic Reason Philosophy /Theology.
• Psychoanalytical - theories concerning the
relation of conscious and unconscious
CARL GUSTAV JUNG
1875 - 1961
• No science will ever replace myth,
and a myth cannot be made out
of any science. For it is not that
“God” is a myth, but that myth is
the revelation of a divine life in
man. It is not we who invent
myth, rather it speaks to us as a
word of God.
CARL GUSTAV JUNG
1875 - 1961
• Myths go back to the primitive
storyteller and his dreams, to men
moved by the stirring of their
fantasies. These people were not
very different from those whom
later generations called poets or
philosophers.
Diversity of Theories Influences
Geography – Desert or Ice
Climate – Cold or Arid
Government – Female vs. Male
creator
Societal Aspects