Contemporary myth and its aesthetic consciousness

Abstract

现代社会的实用理性和科技发展共同终结了古典神话，将之送入精神文化的历 史博物馆。然而，神话思维和神话意识则共时性地隐匿于人们的心理结构之中，对 文明和文化依然施加了重要影响。在现代和后现代的历史文化语境中，神话以变形 的方式潜藏于人类的精神文化活动里，演变为一种当代意义的神话形式，继续发挥 着强大的心理功能和扮演着意识活动与形态助产士的角色。当代神话的典型表现是 科技神话、消费神话、英雄神话等样式。它承袭了传统神话的符号和结构形式而又 有所发展和变异，尤其是借助于科技手段,它获得了更广泛、更丰富的社会内容和迅 捷密集的传播方式，对于社会的方方面面都产生了广泛而深刻的影响。 关键词: 当代神话 审美意识 科技神话 消费神话 英雄神话 Pragmatic rationality and scientific and technological developments in modern society have jointly put an end to classical myth and consigned it to the historical museum of the spiritual culture. However, mythical thinking and consciousness are synchronically hidden in our psychological structures and still exert an important influence on civilizations and cultures. In the modern and postmodern historical and cultural context, myth hides in our spiritual and cultural activities in various altered forms. Having evolved into a mythic form in the contemporary sense, it continues to play a powerful psychological role and to act as a midwife of conscious activities and forms. Contemporary myth typically comprises science myth, consumption myth and hero myth. It has inherited the symbols and structures of traditional myth, but with some developments and variations; in particular, by means of science and technology, it has acquired broader and richer social ingredients and swift and intensive modes of transmission, producing a widespread and far‐reaching influence on various aspects of society.