Do you believe in mythology?
I believe our human imagination can, and has, dreamt up many myths, mythologies, and mythological beings and creatures.
No, this for the very simple reason that I have no beliefs.
I'd say we all have beliefs or we couldn't function but some of us have beliefs based upon evidence and others, not so much..
@Cyklone I make a sharp distinction between belief (a position claimed without any supporting falsifiable evidence) and a worldview based on that same evidence.
@Cyklone P.S. It does not help that the word "belief" has at least four different meanings.
@anglophone true it can be difficult to discern what isn't a belief, in that we function according to a set of assumptions we believe to be true. Eg, that we have similar concepts, although that is something which is frequently an incorrect belief. Maybe we should be more hardline and just say that beliefs which lack supporting evidence are fantasies, to discriminate them from non falsifiable hypotheses.
@Cyklone That sounds wonderfully rational - I like it.
By definition, no one believes in mythology. Mythology is the name that we give to those religions that we reject belief in. As in. My religion, but, your mythology.
Personally I try to see all of it as mythology, and to correct myself if I do catch myself believing any of it.
Sent my smoked sacrifice to Mount Olympus by FedEx last week.....
Yes, they're the demented diary of the human species.
Each myth is typically environmentally inspired by natural observations.
Like the great forest, which dies when it's cold, then comes back to life in spring.
It happens with trees so it has to work for animals as well.
Everyone knows cats have nine lives, and I saw that cat on the stairwell get ran over 35 years ago.
Egyptian mythology is about the Nile River, an odd spot to focus on in an infinitely diverse universe.
So the size of the world in these myths was limited by their perception of the world.
A very small universe.
It should be an academic study.
What do you mean by believe? As in the gods walked among us or as in it existed? I definitely believe people believed in mythology, but I no more believe in Zeus than I believe in Hey-Zeus. Heh heh heh.