Language and the World of Mythos: An Investigation on the Archeology of Culture

Abstract

In this study, I investigate Ernst Cassirer’s analysis of the mythos (or the world of mythos) by focusing on his system of symbolic forms. I adopt his conception of mythos to reveal the influence of forms of mythical consciousness on the emergence of language. To that extend, I compare language paradigms of Cassirer with Chomsky. When I argue that Chomsky’s theory has difficulty to explain the cultural differences when we consider language in relation to mythos. For Chomsky, language phenomena are entirely intrinsical. I think that this claim is hiding behind the anticipation of causality. This anticipation includes the assumption that future will resemble the past. However, I believe that when we are face to the world of mythical consciousness to getting to root of the language, this anticipation falls us into error. It can lead to the misconception that what belongs to the world is a characteristic of our species. From this point of view, I approach to the analysis of language in its relation to mind-body problem. I propound that this problem has an ontological character. Therefore, I argue that, the ontological categories concerning the mythical world would leads us to delusions. Because the world of the appearences mythical world has a phenomenological character. I deal with this problem here in order to make the following basic claim: The mythical expression function continues influencing to our theoretical consciousness occasionally. We experience it most clearly in the physiognomical expression of a sensation. How is this possible? The attempt to find an answer to this question is always drives us to the homunculus error. I’m implying that this error is based on the expectation of causality. Thus I turn again the idea that an evolutionary perspective in such an expectation cannot grasp mythical consciousness correctly. At the end of this work I propose a teleological perspective and I’m explaining it.