Logos and Mythos, what's the difference?

During the September 6th lecture it was briefly discussed the relation between mythos, logos, and the human psyche. Logos was stated to be a sort of "world labeling" wherein elements of the natural world identified and knowledge is created while Mythos is the practice of "world making" or creating universes for the purposes of story telling. Both are methods of meaning making, and the present goal is to contextualize them in Joseph Campbell's theory of the monomyth, which deals greatly with both, to elucidate further  their reciprocal relationship.

First it must be recognized that mythos and logos are not concepts that exist outside of the human experience: they are both entirely constructed ideas that we apply to information we receive.

We will start with mythos' relation to logos. Mythos, in the context of our current class can be described broadly as the entire process by which human cultures create myths, and cultures and individuals consume, interpret, and reimagine the myths they receive. Myths are the principle concern of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, wherein he lays out a structure seemingly common to many myths across cultures. Campbell identifies several elements present in a wide variety of ancient myths that manifest as symbols in stories that exist downstream of more abstract concepts he defines. When myth is viewed as a set of symbols pieced together from a common framework, it is immediately apparent how mythos is nothing more than a manifestation of an abstract logos. If logos is understood to be the rational, and ordered knowledge created by understanding the elements of the universe, then myths become solutions to a sort of "mythos equation" defined by the human psyche. Campbell employs the work of psychoanalysts such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung heavily throughout his text to show how the steps of the monomyth can all be traced back to identified pieces of the human psyche, and so all myths can therefore be explained in terms of psychoanalysis. When myth is contextualized against the human psyche, the process of "world making" and, more importantly the reception of the worlds made by myth, is transformed into a process in which no creation exists at all, because all creations are really just reflections of the human mind. Myth thus allows the audience a glimpse into themselves, not through mythos but through logos. Psychoanalaysis turns mythos into logos.

Logos can also be explained in terms of mythos, however. As was stated at the beginning of this post, both logos and mythos are concepts projected onto the world by the human mind. This is obvious in the case of mythos, but some seem to think that, in scientific matters, knowledge about the natural world is only ever true or false, rather than existing on a scale of truthiness different to each individual. In order for logos knowledge to be true knowledge, one must accept narratives about the scientific method, the ability for logic to arrive at "truth", and others regarding a person's ability to have knowledge. When interrogated as a narrative, the scientific method bears a striking resemblance to the myths discussed by Campbell. The scientific method can be sumarized as follows: a question is asked. a hypothesis made, an experiment conducted, data collected, the experiment is modified and repeated until sufficient quantities of quality data are gathered. The data is analyzed and a knowledge claim is uncovered. If that claim falsifies the hypothesis . That claim is then shared with the world, or in modern academic publishing, given to peer reviewers before publication. The steps of the scientific methods and Campbell's monomyth are the same: a hero is called from their position of comfort and knowing to explore the unknown beyond what the normal person experiences. They are tested and receive the ultimate boon after transcending themselves and attaining ultimate knowledge. They then must return to their society and share the boon. For the scientist, the asking of the question is the call to adventure. They ask themselves about the possibility of the world around them. The crafting of a hypothesis is the crossing of the threshold as once they have the hypothesis, they've simultaneously given themselves the trinket that will aid them on the rest of the process and taken the step needed to uncover new knowledge. The grueling process of data collection, hypothesis modification, and analysis are the road of trials. A scientific discovery is the ultimate boon, and the trials experienced during the return match well to challenges faced by scientists by the world of academic publishing insofar as they are both barriers to sharing their boon with their community. Upon the return however, the discovery is incorporated into the scientific canon and a new discovery is made, just as a new hero and new boon are needed. Logos thus relies upon mythos for it's ability to produce konwledge.