The concept of archetype used by Eliade in religious science investigations derives from his meditational experiences. Eliade, in order to be better understood by Western scholars, referred to the archetype concept by Carl Gustav Jung and the concept of ideal type used by phenomenologists. However, one should not identify Jung's concept of archetype with that of Eliade's. With Jung, it has a psychological meaning, with Eliade a metaphysical one. However, according to the Romanian scholar, the same archetypes are basis of religious, esthetical and literary symbols. It is our intention which decides about how given symbol is to be understood. Any symbols however, owe their power just to the archetypes embedded in the structure of the human psyche.
Freud's psychoanalysis, classical Adlerian psychology, Jung’s psychology, van Genneps' rites of passage, the Tantra theory as well as the diffusion theory are the main inspirational sources of Joseph Campbell's myth theory. The most important of them being the Tantra theory that according to Campbell contains and transcends all partial descriptions of the human psyche contained in depth psychology. As such, it constitutes the best description of the human psychic condition, symbolically expressed in myths.
The article aims to demonstrate the naturalistic tendencies of Erich Fromm’s research that are apparent in his interpretations of the fragments of the Old Testament relating to the Sabbath and describing the fall of Adam and Eve. Erich Fromm finds a natural ally for his naturalistic tendencies in Zen Buddhism. In Fromm’s thought both naturalism and Zen Buddhism interpreted naturalistically join with Jacob Bachofen’s theory of matriarchate.
This article is an attempt at presenting Mircea Eliade’s classification of myths. Despite the fact that the Romanian scholar did not attach great importance to the formal definition of the myth, both his definition and classification of myths reveal a very interesting structure of the mythical vision of the world. It contains a peculiar logic which substantially differs from the logic of the myth as described by Levi-Strauss. Unlike the French scholar, Eliade is not concerned with the grammar of the myth but with its immanent content and with the mythical vision of the world.
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