Mit polityczny — opowieść o nas i naszych czasach
Political myth - a story about us and our times

Summary/Abstract: The goal of this article is to provide the wide overview of theories of myth with particular focus on political myth. Described as a process, political myth can provide us an interesting lens, through which we can discover our history, main political narrations as well as reinterpret old myths. As Cassirer noticed, theory of myth for scholars is like a magic mirror – regardless of the field of their specialization they always see in it familiar elements. In my paper I am particularly focusing on few theories. There are several reasons why it is worth to mention some scholars and their work. First of all, it allows us to grasp the shift in the work on the concept of myth. In the same time we can see how particular approach evaluate, but in fact stay the same. The best example of this we can find in the work of Cassirer. He worked in times dominated by growing Nazi movements, philosophy of Mandarines and common fascination of Teutonic myth. By criticizing myth in general he was taking a stand, showing his opposition to based on mass emotions politics. It is the historical context who drives Cassirer to division between “mythical” and modern consciousness. Therefore he connects everything, which is emotional, cultural and naïve with myth, repeating after Tylor and Lang criticism, equaling mythological consciousness with prymitivism. Second worth mentioning theory created Eliade. It plays an important role in the wide discussion about myth. Eliade presents the opposition sacrum-profanum. He shows how myths helps people to find their orientation within the reality and the world. By providing axis mundi myth is helping us to perceive not only meaning, but also significance of things. While for Cassirer myth is a kind of regression, for another author, George Sorel, myth is its the opposition – it is necessary element for progress. Sorel’s work “Reflections on the Violence” is one of the most appreciated and disputed work within the discussion about the role and functions of myth in the modern society. In my work I underline the most important qualities of political myth. I am also defending myth itself from vague criticism, like the one presented by Tismaneanu or Kolodziej. The political myth is a dynamic form of story. It is changing and shifting according to needs and interpretations of the reality made by the members of the particular group. It is understandable to criticize national myths, which can lead to wars and discrimination, but we simply can not criticize an empty form while discussing the concept itself.

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