'Everything Becomes Possible' The Philosophy of Lévi-Strauss' Myth-Function

Date/Time: Wednesday, Feb. 21, 5pm
Place: Robinson Hall, 323

In 1955 Lévi-Strauss published "The Structural Study of Myth," in which he introduced a "canonic formula of myth" through which all of the apparent chaos of so-called primitive culture could be understood. Though he rarely mentions this formula again, in his later career he affirms it as being central to the whole project of structural anthropology. In this talk I will address the philosophical meaning and value of Lévi-Strauss' myth-function, and relate it to other philosophies of myth - particularly that of Ernst Cassirer. The goal is to vindicate Lévi-Strauss' method as an interpretive science, while distinguishing it from more typical reductive methodologies in the sciences.