Belief in the Yellow Emperor (Attilio & western myths)

[Guest guest]

I don't think I stated (Attilio) " that our western world is void of myths

and relies on

science alone in its perceptions of the world. "

 

Attilio further states: " Thus, I disagree that we have a scientific

perspective. History is written by the winners of wars and by strong

political/religious foundations, history

itself is a myth. "

 

What you describe in general (between these two quotations) has some degree

of truth. The 2nd quotation, however seems to refer to common or popular

culture and history. I would argue that we have ideals in terms of

scientific standards, and that they are especially relevant today in

medical research (and hence in medical practice). And that the history that

occupies Paul Unschuld and Donald Harper (and pertains to our field) bears

little resemblance to the kind of military/political history you refer to.

 

In a message after the one you appear to be replying to, I tried to make

clear that I do believe that science in general, and " historical science "

in particular, is a shared belief system (as Unschuld has noted), and as

such can be seen as grounded in mythos, albeit one that is currently at the

leading edge of human knowledge.

 

I also believe one can argue that the awareness of cultural and historical

distinctions (i.e. differing mythos) is cultivated more explicitly in

Western intellectual history. This due to a more dynamic history involving

multiple diverse variants of peoples, cultures, and literary traditions.

That is, compared with the relative degree of cultural uniformity in China

across the 2000 year imperial era. Perhaps even the dynamism and diversity

in the West has contributed to the development of science, scientific

history, with its explicit critical, and self-critical

awareness/methodology. This, I suggest, leads to a difference in the

relationship to myth in the two broad cultures.