Just something to throw in from the world of biology. I'm a philologist/English instructor with background in forestry as well. My own most recent observation, not meant to minimalize any of this profound and beautiful thinking, is that humans deify words partly because the word or language (as distinguished from communication) sets us apart from other animals, gives us special worth. Other species have communication forms, but not language as we do. This particular distinction opens up huge implications.... (perhaps)..... : ) For example, with magic spells and religion, we expect to change reality by making things happen or change.....interesting. Indeed then, words matter!
Your quote from Pythagoras sounds just like Parmenides "The One and The Other". Caesar had one word "Citizens" which brought the tenth Legion to its knees. Great stuff.
Very true observations, the meaning of the word "logos" depends on the context. But the same is true for the word "mythos"! I observed that many scholars translate the word "mythos" just with "myth", which is often wrong. And as for "logos", the meaning of the word changes over time. I see a lot of scholarly work in this area standing on unstable grounds.
To my understanding, the basic meaning of "mythos" (in Plato's works) is not a mythical story, but a story or statement, which has no supporting evidence, in contrast to "logos", which is so-to-say defined as having some supporting evidence (a reason, or a credible witness, etc.).
This means, that a "mythos" can be a fully true story, and a "logos" can be wrong, if the supporting evidence turns out to be insufficient or wrong, as it is often the case in Plato's dialogues. (My book: Platonische Mythen, 2021, German only so far).
Thank you Visnja. Thank you for connecting the “God was the Word” statement from the first chapter of the Gospel of John to ancient Greek philosophers’ definitions of logos. This deepens my understanding of what the Gospel writer was saying: Jesus is God, and God is logos, the one who creates and unifies all things, the one that is truth.
Hi Marcus, I did get your point. My view is that the Gospel writer was introducing Jesus by using the concepts of “logos” that were already familiar to some of his readers.
Just something to throw in from the world of biology. I'm a philologist/English instructor with background in forestry as well. My own most recent observation, not meant to minimalize any of this profound and beautiful thinking, is that humans deify words partly because the word or language (as distinguished from communication) sets us apart from other animals, gives us special worth. Other species have communication forms, but not language as we do. This particular distinction opens up huge implications.... (perhaps)..... : ) For example, with magic spells and religion, we expect to change reality by making things happen or change.....interesting. Indeed then, words matter!
Trees communicate e.g. via a network of funghi in the earth. Here, the word "Word" is rather reduced to "information", I would say.
Your quote from Pythagoras sounds just like Parmenides "The One and The Other". Caesar had one word "Citizens" which brought the tenth Legion to its knees. Great stuff.
Very true observations, the meaning of the word "logos" depends on the context. But the same is true for the word "mythos"! I observed that many scholars translate the word "mythos" just with "myth", which is often wrong. And as for "logos", the meaning of the word changes over time. I see a lot of scholarly work in this area standing on unstable grounds.
To my understanding, the basic meaning of "mythos" (in Plato's works) is not a mythical story, but a story or statement, which has no supporting evidence, in contrast to "logos", which is so-to-say defined as having some supporting evidence (a reason, or a credible witness, etc.).
This means, that a "mythos" can be a fully true story, and a "logos" can be wrong, if the supporting evidence turns out to be insufficient or wrong, as it is often the case in Plato's dialogues. (My book: Platonische Mythen, 2021, German only so far).
And it wasn't a Christian invention! 👌🏼
Thank you Visnja. Thank you for connecting the “God was the Word” statement from the first chapter of the Gospel of John to ancient Greek philosophers’ definitions of logos. This deepens my understanding of what the Gospel writer was saying: Jesus is God, and God is logos, the one who creates and unifies all things, the one that is truth.
I think you missed the point that logos is not a Christian invention.
Hi Marcus, I did get your point. My view is that the Gospel writer was introducing Jesus by using the concepts of “logos” that were already familiar to some of his readers.
Sure, it's typical Christian-monotheism appropriation; takeover of our ethnoculture and erasure of our natural religion & philosophical heritage.
Logos was already a well-established concept in pagan philosophy long before the supposed "revelation" of the Christian Bible. Fun article, thanks.