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University of Essex homepage Events Myth and Science
Event

Myth and Science

Open Seminar - Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies/Centre for Myth Studies

  • Wed 5 Dec 18

    17:00 - 18:30

  • Colchester Campus

    4N.6.1

  • Event speaker

    Professor Robert Segal, University of Aberdeen

  • Event type

    Lectures, talks and seminars

  • Event organiser

    Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies, Department of

  • Contact details

    Debbie Stewart

In the nineteenth century myth and science were taken to be incompatible.

The two originated and functioned identically: to explain all events in the physical world. Both were read literally. Myth attributed events to a god. Science attributed events to mechanical processes.

In the twentieth century myth and science were taken to be compatible, but because they diverged rather than intersected. Either the origin and function of myth were other than explanatory, or else myth was read symbolically: the subject matter was other than gods or the physical world.

I will consider a recent attempt to reconcile myth with science even when they intersect: the case of the myth of Gaia.

The Speaker

Robert Segal is Sixth Century Chair in Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen. He came to the UK from the US in 1994. He writes and teaches on theories of myth and theories of religion.

He has written or edited The Poimanders As Myth, Joseph Campbell, In Quest Of the Hero,The Gnostic Jung, The Allure Of Gnosticism, Jung On Mythology, Myth: A Very Short Introduction, Theorizing About Myth, Hero Myths, Explaining And Interpretting Religion, 60 Second Mythology, Vocabulary For The Study Of Mythology and the Blackwell Companion To the Study Of Religion.

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Entry is free and open to all.

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