Chaos and Order: Contemporary Cosmology and Myth

The paper offers a definition of cosmology and its connections with mythology, and presents contemporary theories as a secular mythical narrative suitable for anthropological analysis. The paper is dedicated to emphasizing the folklore characteristics of modern cosmology and points to the importanc...

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Autor principal: Milan Tomašević
Formato: article
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FR
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Publicado: University of Belgrade 2020
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/9243e1be490f4853afe53bd865ec216e
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:9243e1be490f4853afe53bd865ec216e2021-12-02T10:44:43ZChaos and Order: Contemporary Cosmology and Myth10.21301/eap.v15i4.60353-15892334-8801https://doaj.org/article/9243e1be490f4853afe53bd865ec216e2020-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://eap-iea.org/index.php/eap/article/view/1096https://doaj.org/toc/0353-1589https://doaj.org/toc/2334-8801 The paper offers a definition of cosmology and its connections with mythology, and presents contemporary theories as a secular mythical narrative suitable for anthropological analysis. The paper is dedicated to emphasizing the folklore characteristics of modern cosmology and points to the importance of popular cosmological narratives as reading that contains culturally, philosophically and even religiously relevant elements. Special attention is paid to cosmogonic myths that describe the state of the universe before the creation of space and time. A parallel has been drawn between modern cosmology and conventional cosmogonic myths. In the end, the paper offers a concise definition of popular cosmology and recalls the most important authors and popularizers of modern theories. The main task of the paper is to present the basic concepts that can contribute to a complete understanding of the anthropological character of the presentation of contemporary cosmology that we encounter in popular narratives. The aim of such an analysis is to observe the depth of the significance of modern science for creating a philosophical picture of the world that inherits secular worldviews. By treating popular cosmology as a modern myth, the paper presents a new dimension of the significance of scientific theories for today's civilization. Such an approach unravels the strictly positivist halo of cosmology and points to its anthropological character. The concepts highlighted in the paper serve as an illustration of the significance that the image of the universe and the position of the Earth has for the history of civilization. By presenting the cultural dimension of cosmology, it opens a space for dialogue between different branches of scientific research, i.e. it contributes to the communication of philosophy and science. Equally important, by illuminating the folklore character of the narrative of the origin and history of the universe, a training ground is created for philosophers and theologians who, in their own ways, interpret the creation of everything around us. By drawing attention to authors such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Lawrence Kraus, Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku and others, as contemporary bards and narrators, the paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of popular cosmology as an expression of modern man's need for great stories, for narratives that transcend the spatial and temporal frames of one generation, and that is exactly what myths do. Milan TomaševićUniversity of Belgradearticlecosmologycosmogonymythpopular cosmologyanthropologyAnthropologyGN1-890ENFRSREtnoantropološki Problemi, Vol 15, Iss 4 (2020)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
FR
SR
topic cosmology
cosmogony
myth
popular cosmology
anthropology
Anthropology
GN1-890
spellingShingle cosmology
cosmogony
myth
popular cosmology
anthropology
Anthropology
GN1-890
Milan Tomašević
Chaos and Order: Contemporary Cosmology and Myth
description The paper offers a definition of cosmology and its connections with mythology, and presents contemporary theories as a secular mythical narrative suitable for anthropological analysis. The paper is dedicated to emphasizing the folklore characteristics of modern cosmology and points to the importance of popular cosmological narratives as reading that contains culturally, philosophically and even religiously relevant elements. Special attention is paid to cosmogonic myths that describe the state of the universe before the creation of space and time. A parallel has been drawn between modern cosmology and conventional cosmogonic myths. In the end, the paper offers a concise definition of popular cosmology and recalls the most important authors and popularizers of modern theories. The main task of the paper is to present the basic concepts that can contribute to a complete understanding of the anthropological character of the presentation of contemporary cosmology that we encounter in popular narratives. The aim of such an analysis is to observe the depth of the significance of modern science for creating a philosophical picture of the world that inherits secular worldviews. By treating popular cosmology as a modern myth, the paper presents a new dimension of the significance of scientific theories for today's civilization. Such an approach unravels the strictly positivist halo of cosmology and points to its anthropological character. The concepts highlighted in the paper serve as an illustration of the significance that the image of the universe and the position of the Earth has for the history of civilization. By presenting the cultural dimension of cosmology, it opens a space for dialogue between different branches of scientific research, i.e. it contributes to the communication of philosophy and science. Equally important, by illuminating the folklore character of the narrative of the origin and history of the universe, a training ground is created for philosophers and theologians who, in their own ways, interpret the creation of everything around us. By drawing attention to authors such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Lawrence Kraus, Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku and others, as contemporary bards and narrators, the paper seeks to contribute to the understanding of popular cosmology as an expression of modern man's need for great stories, for narratives that transcend the spatial and temporal frames of one generation, and that is exactly what myths do.
format article
author Milan Tomašević
author_facet Milan Tomašević
author_sort Milan Tomašević
title Chaos and Order: Contemporary Cosmology and Myth
title_short Chaos and Order: Contemporary Cosmology and Myth
title_full Chaos and Order: Contemporary Cosmology and Myth
title_fullStr Chaos and Order: Contemporary Cosmology and Myth
title_full_unstemmed Chaos and Order: Contemporary Cosmology and Myth
title_sort chaos and order: contemporary cosmology and myth
publisher University of Belgrade
publishDate 2020
url https://doaj.org/article/9243e1be490f4853afe53bd865ec216e
work_keys_str_mv AT milantomasevic chaosandordercontemporarycosmologyandmyth
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