Monday 23 October 2023, 6.30-8.30pm
Literary Society "Parnassos" (Palamas Hall),
The Methodology of Mythology was developed to examine the logic of a myth, notably that by Plato, regarding the truths or falsehoods it contains. At the start of the project, a new conceptually faithful translation of a myth was made to study the logic of the myth correctly and, at the same time, study the thought process of the rationalist and myth writer, Plato. The study of the logic of myths is understood as being the application of logic to the scrutiny of a mythical narrative in order to ascertain its purpose and written structure, to whom it is addressed and how, to investigate whether it contains concepts, terminologies, expressions or a particular form of writing in which one can identify possible postulates, laws, principles and rules, or perhaps a systematic procedure that allows for the categorization and separation of truth from falsehood. The study of the logic of Plato as a writer of myths means to look for his reasoning as a myth writer, determining whether he mingles truths and untruths in the writing of the myth or would write a likely true story in a way that appears to be probably untrue, and how to discern these two.
Plato was chosen as the subject because he is considered a perfect exponent of rationalism, which is incompatible with creative writing, something that he himself acknowledged. In view of that, the myth chosen as the most suitable for study was that of Atlantis, due to its manageable length, neither too long nor too short, its many descriptive images and of course the recognized validity of its author and the preciseness of his original ancient writings.
Initially observed was that while most recognized translations of the ancient text are relatively similar for the most part, they vary widely in a few but crucial passages. Sometimes, texts that the translator found incomprehensible were simply excluded, while other translators rendered them incoherent in meaning. The attempt to elucidate these, found wide deviations of the same text in preceding translations because the new conceptually faithful translation gave rise to novel, unambiguous and previously unidentified meanings. What is more, repeated patterns were found in the expressing of certain meanings and the existence of a systematic variability in
degrees of complexity in understanding and translating. Additionally, in the course of elucidating the meanings, done word by word and phrase by phrase, another level of unknown meaning and information periodically appears in the ancient text. It was further found that the researcher, by applying logic based on the new faithful translation, was methodically directed to the truth, to locate and gradually develop the methodology to be applied to verify the truth or falsity of a meaning. This methodology is shown to be in absolute conformity with the logic of G. Boole's algebra used in computers as well as with the analysis of probabilities.
The Myth proves to be a unique scientific, didactic and informative piece of writing of magnitude and value far more remarkable than thus far believed. It is addressed to distinct intellectual ages of learners and enables the highly educated to distinguish the coexisting truths and falsities in it. It also contains crucial information about the era in which it was written, which can be retrieved methodically without impacting other vital elements identified and previously commented on in these writings.
Identified governing the Platonic myths are twelve laws and twelve postulates that were subsequently able to be applied to the Homeric Myths, except that the Homeric myths presently contain seven additional postulates and a law partially different from the twelve governing Plato's Myth.
To be presented are two typical examples of when applying logic to a faithfully translated excerpt from the 11th rhapsody of the Odyssey uncovers hitherto unknown and significant information, at least in this of Odysseus' adventures, visiting Ades.
Said information is a full Calendar of the Homeric era, of great accuracy and thus far unknown, proving that today's calendar has its early origins there.
Furthermore, new information emerges about the constellation of Orion, including the actual outline of the constellation observed by peoples of that time and which has some minor differences from today's recognised form. Plus, there is new information concerning the constellation of Orion in relationship to the Moon and many more new and remarkable findings.
EN 
EL