Abstract

This book is an exercise in hermeneutics, or interpretation. In it Professor Rasmussen is concerned with an explanation of symbols and the myths in which they occur. Using the methods of phenomenology and taking advantage of the results of earlier interpreters of myths and symbols, particularly Eliade and Ricoeur, he develops and defends a view of symbolic language whose main theses include the following. Symbols and, thus, myths are authentic representations of a unique dimension of human consciousness, which can be articulated only through them. A necessary expression of human experience, they represent man’s attempt to probe the ultimate foundations of meaning. The author illustrates these theses by an examination of symbolic language as it appears primarily in religious, but also in literary, social, and political discourse. The discussion is largely pre-philosophical, in the sense that little attention is given to the central epistemological question: Are the myths in which symbolic language occurs true? To the extent that the author addresses this question, the answer he gives appears to imply a relativistic skepticism. For example, he writes: "Reality is an individual and social construction". From the perspective of philosophy, this is the most important point made in the book; but it needs to be pursued much further than Rasmussen has done.