Full-text resources of CEJSH and other databases are now available in the new Library of Science.
Visit https://bibliotekanauki.pl

Results found: 3

first rewind previous Page / 1 next fast forward last

Search results

Search:
in the keywords:  POLITICAL MYTH
help Sort By:

help Limit search:
first rewind previous Page / 1 next fast forward last
1

Mit polityczny – opowieść o nas i naszych czasach

100%
Nowak A.
Euro-Facta
|
2010
|
vol. 2. Kultura a komunikacja
95-108
EN
The goal of this article is to provide the wide overview of theories of myth with particular focus on political myth. Described as a process, political myth can provide us an interesting lens, through which we can discover our history, main political narrations as well as reinterpret old myths. As Cassirer noticed, theory of myth for scholars is like a magic mirror – regardless of the field of their specialization they always see in it familiar elements. In my paper I am particularly focusing on few theories. There are several reasons why it is worth to mention some scholars and their work. First of all, it allows us to grasp the shift in the work on the concept of myth. In the same time we can see how particular approach evaluate, but in fact stay the same. The best example of this we can find in the work of Cassirer. He worked in times dominated by growing Nazi movements, philosophy of Mandarines and common fascination of Teutonic myth. By criticizing myth in general he was taking a stand, showing his opposition to based on mass emotions politics. It is the historical context who drives Cassirer to division between “mythical” and modern consciousness. Therefore he connects everything, which is emotional, cultural and naïve with myth, repeating after Tylor and Lang criticism, equaling mythological consciousness with primitivism. Second worth mentioning theory created Eliade. It plays an important role in the wide discussion about myth. Eliade presents the opposition sacrum-profanum. He shows how myths helps people to find their orientation within the reality and the world. By providing axis mundi myth is helping us to perceive not only meaning, but also significance of things. While for Cassirer myth is a kind of regression, for another author, George Sorel, myth is its the opposition – it is necessary element for progress. Sorel’s work “Reflections on the Violence” is one of the most appreciated and disputed work within the discussion about the role and functions of myth in the modern society. In my work I underline the most important qualities of political myth. I am also defending myth itself from vague criticism, like the one presented by Tismaneanu or Kolodziej. The political myth is a dynamic form of story. It is changing and shifting according to needs and interpretations of the reality made by the members of the particular group. It is understandable to criticize national myths, which can lead to wars and discrimination, but we simply can not criticize an empty form while discussing the concept itself.
2

Nacjonalizm jako mit polityczny

63%
Kołodziej J.
Euro-Facta
|
2008
|
vol. 1. From totalitarism to citizen's societes in the United Europe
367-283
EN
In all critical moments of man’s social life, the rational forces that resist the rise of old mythical ideas are no longer sure of themselves. In these moments all mythical conceptions reappear and become a prominent feature in the sphere of political action. Political myth, a fantasy of a better world, cannot be simply discarded as infantile daydreaming. Although some myths are vindictive, and potentially disastrous, others are favorable to dialogue and a commitment to a free community of equal individuals. It is always a matter of interpretation and the same myth can be used for expansion or limitation of one’s freedoms and responsibilities. The present thesis has been prepared to present national mythologies – conceptions that had dominated collective imagination of the Eastern European societies. The first part is devoted to present several selected theoretical concepts which characterize the essence of modern myth and describe direct relation between myth and policy. They are: G. Sorel’s concept of political myth, E. Cassirer’s philosophical concept of political myth, and the concept of political myth put forward by V. Tismaneanu. In the second part of my study I have focused on a few different definitions and typologies of nationalism, which I consider the most interesting and most significant of all. In these part I have also attempted to present and analyze phenomena which I have deemed the most essential for the arisen of mythologization of the political life. The final part of the work is devoted to present and explain the phenomenon of the mythologization of the political life in Eastern European countries. A very important component of this analysis is presentation how extreme nationalistic and authoritarian thought has been influential in Eastern Europe for much of this century, while liberalism has only shallow historical roots. Despite democratic successes in Czech Republic and Poland it would be a mistake for the West to assume that liberalism will always triumph. Nationalist intellectuals have encouraged ethnic hatred in such countries as Russia, Romania, and the former Yugoslavia by reviving patriotic myths of heroes, scapegoats, and historical injustices. Often focused on the past, the new mythologies are actually discourses about the present and especially the future of post-Communist societies. The main aim of these thesis was to introduce how the mythology of the nation explaining brutal reality had created particular intellectual rigours, moral standards and archetypal personalities which had efficiently steered collective imagination in the last decades and shows how enthusiastically these myths have been welcomed by people desperate for some form of salvation from political and economic uncertainty.
3
Content available remote

O micie politycznym w kontekście symbolizmu Ernsta Cassirera

44%
Ples M.
Filo-Sofija
|
2010
|
vol. 10
|
issue 2(11)
73-91
EN
The article presents Ernst Cassirer’s concept of the myth of state in the context of his philosophy of symbolic forms, influenced by the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant and by the philosophy of Marburg neo-Kantianism. Ernst Cassirer believed that language, myth, art, religion, history, science – all the forms of representation that human beings use – are symbolic. Human being, defined as an animal symbolicum, exist in the universe of symbolic meaning. Myth is primitive manifestation of symbolic meaning. In his last major work – The Myth of the State, Cassirer concerns the idea of a totalitarian state as a modern political myth.
first rewind previous Page / 1 next fast forward last
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.