Is myth more powerful than philosophy?

Question

Is myth more powerful than philosophy?

Answer 1

Isn't myth a form of conclusion and philosophy a quest for conclusion?

I'd have to guess that it depends on the source.

Answer 2

No

Answer 3

according to a scientists i guess both would be irrational. . . but i think philosophy is powerful because it forces us to look at ourselves and the poeple and things around us, how we think, and even how we live our lives without all the hard facts and proof because theres so much more to life than facts

Answer 4

Myth is a believe not proved while philosophy covers actual truth, what you Can see and go through daily.

Which means that philosophy would be more powerful.

Thanks for asking

Answer 5

Myths definitely draw more people than philosophy does. That is why there are so many billions of people practicing their various religions. So I guess in that sense it is more powerful at drawing people in people are drawn by magical, mystical explanations for life. Philosophy however, is a more real and logical, way of looking at life, but people like magic.

Answer 6

Yes, it is. If only because more people are familiar with myth than philosophy.

Philosophy, while it is a quest to find truth, continues to be seen as a study suited for "smart" people...for the elite of society if you will. You'll find that particular opinion in this forum (its not my own, I only parrot what I have seen and read for the purpose of answering this question). Myth however, which we are familiar with from infancy in the form of fairy tales, is much more well known. It takes nothing but exposure, imagination and perpetuation to believe in myth.

Answer 7

Good point,,, however i would have to say that philosophy is slightly more powerful than myth because the works of famous philosophers have been taught far and wide and are thought of as fact. Whereas myth, although i see as powerful, especially in our thoughts and imagination, really has no real proof as such. There are many things i do believe in that are classed as myth, ie: fairies, dragons etc, however, on this occasion i would have to say that philosophy is the more powerful...

Answer 8

NEVER.

Myth has its moments, for sure...but they are fleeting compared to the overiding, inrelenting influence of what the Greeks created....P H I L O S O P H Y ! ! !

Answer 9

Yes .. for myths give some ppl  what they want to believe in, or assure ( approve of) it . Philosophy OTOH gives them the method to examine the validity of such myth (i.e the decision reached by the argument of the myth).

Answer 10

It depends--on who is being influenced and for what.

"If you trace the roots of all our current philosophies—such as pragmatism, logical positivism, and all the rest of the neo-mystics who announce happily that you cannot prove that you exist—you will find that they all grew out of Kant."

“Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World,”

Philosophy: Who Needs It; Ayn Rand

It is obvious that philosophy, not mythology had to do with this.

"There is only one fundamental issue in philosophy: the cognitive efficacy of man’s mind. The conflict of Aristotle versus Plato is the conflict of reason versus mysticism. It was Plato who formulated most of philosophy’s basic questions—and doubts. It was Aristotle who laid the foundation for most of the answers. Thereafter, the record of their duel is the record of man’s long struggle to deny and surrender or to uphold and assert the validity of his particular mode of consciousness.

"Throughout history the influence of Aristotle’s philosophy (particularly of his epistemology) has led in the direction of individual freedom, of man’s liberation from the power of the state . . . Aristotle (via John Locke) was the philosophical father of the Constitution of the United States and thus of capitalism . . . it is Plato and Hegel, not Aristotle, who have been the philosophical ancestors of all totalitarian and welfare states, whether Bismarck’s, Lenin’s or Hitler’s."

Review of J.H. Randall’s Aristotle,

The Objectivist Newsletter, May 1963

Again, philosophy, not mythology had to do with this. But let's dig deeper.

"It is, however, not difficult to account for the credit that was

given to the story of Jesus Christ being the son of God. He was born

when the heathen mythology had still some fashion and repute in the

world, and that mythology had prepared the people for the belief of

such a story. Almost all the extraordinary men that lived under the

heathen mythology were reputed to be the sons of some of their gods.

It was not a new thing, at that time, to believe a man to have been

celestially begotten; the intercourse of gods with women was then a

matter of familiar opinion.

"It is upon this plain narrative of facts, together with another

case I am going to mention, that the Christian Mythologists, calling

themselves the Christian Church, have erected their fable, which,

for absurdity and extravagance, is not exceeded by anything that is to

be found in the mythology of the ancients.

"The Christian Mythologists, after having confined Satan in a

pit, were obliged to let him out again to bring on the sequel of the

fable. He is then introduced into the Garden of Eden, in the shape

of a snake or a serpent, and in that shape he enters into familiar

conversation with Eve, who is no way surprised to hear a snake talk;

and the issue of this tete-a-tete is that he persuades her to eat an

apple, and the eating of that apple damns all mankind.

"After giving Satan this triumph over the whole creation, one would

have supposed that the Church Mythologists would have been kind enough to send him back again to the pit; or, if they had not done this, that they would have put a mountain upon him (for they say that their faith can remove a mountain), or have put him under a mountain, as the former mythologists had done, to prevent his getting again among the women and doing more mischief. But instead of this they leave him at large, without even obliging him to give his parole- the secret of which is, that they could not do without him; and after being at the trouble of making him, they bribed him to stay. They promised him ALL the Jews, ALL the Turks by anticipation, nine-tenths of the world beside, and Mahomet into the bargain. After this, who can

doubt the bountifulness of the Christian Mythology?

"Having thus made an insurrection and a battle in Heaven, in

which none of the combatants could be either killed or wounded- put

Satan into the pit- let him out again- giving him a triumph over the

whole creation- damned all mankind by the eating of an apple, these

Christian Mythologists bring the two ends of their fable together.

They represent this virtuous and amiable man, Jesus Christ, to be at

once both God and Man, and also the Son of God, celestially

begotten, on purpose to be sacrificed, because they say that Eve in

her longing had eaten an apple.

"Putting aside everything that might excite laughter by its

absurdity, or detestation by its profaneness, and confining

ourselves merely to an examination of the parts, it is impossible to

conceive a story more derogatory to the Almighty, more inconsistent

with his wisdom, more contradictory to his power, than this story is."

Thomas Paine

"The Age of Reason"

Paine believed in the goodness of the man name Jesus. He despised the religion build on the myth. In his opinion mythology was superior to the philosophy of Jesus only in that it won out over the real message of Jesus..

Jefferson agreed, creating his own Bible. He made two of them, one is only 78 pages long (I think) and they were cut out of two versions of the KJB and pasted on blank paper, next to the Greek and Latin versions.