The Myth of Authority and the Authority of Myth

The view of local governors in the Russian Empire as all-powerful is overly simplistic and cannot in itself explain the Russian Revolution of 1917.     

欧洲民族主义的迷思

民族主义的歧义源于对民族主义的原产地属性缺乏分析.破解欧洲民族主义的迷思是深人剖析民族主义的必要工作."原生"民族主义是欧洲现代化的产物,欧洲通过现代民族国家的形式完成了自己的现代化任务,最终以欧盟的框架逐步化解各民族国家原有的矛盾,使得欧洲的民族冲突大致不必以战争的方式解决.因此,欧洲民族主义有可能是一种现代化的阶段性产物.     

The Philosopher's Stories: The Role of Myth in Plato's Pedagogy

In this essay I will argue that Platonic myths are a useful tool not only in the education of the ignorant but for the philosophical mind as well. To do this I will first examine the limitations and problems that Plato sees in written communication, and I will then argue that myths avoid these problems by undermining their own validity. If they are to avoid the problems that plague the written format, myths must show themselves for what they are: inadequate tools for giving a complete account of a particular subject. Myths, I will argue, are those shadows (to use the term from the story of the Cave in the Republic) that show their own shadow-like nature. In this way the myth is able to work hand-in-hand with dialectic to educate philosophers.     

The Myth of Bondi's Black Sunday

On 6 February 1938, five bathers drowned while swimming between the flags at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia. In surf lifesaving history, the day is known as Black Sunday. The dominant heroic narrative of Black Sunday highlights freak surf conditions and the gallantry, efficiency, and adeptness of Bondi's volunteer surf lifesavers. In this article I analyse this representation as a myth. Here I employ the French philosopher Roland Barthes' concept of myth, not as a falsehood, but as simplistic story, replete with silences and devoid of critical assessment. I argue that the myth of Black Sunday served the interests of Surf Life Saving Australia well in establishing its status as the country's premier safety service. However, the culture that underpinned that myth still persists with ongoing ramifications for risk assessment at the beach.     

The Modern Myth of the Viking

This paper presents the text of a lecture first given in the series commemorating the work of Paul Johnstone. In the years since it was given further material has been gathered and the issues it addresses are still current. The paper discusses how we have constructed histories of the Scandinavian Iron Age, in particular the myth of the ‘Viking’, and how these are manipulated and used in society today. It is argued that by not countering spurious histories assiduously enough, academia has effectively subscribed to them and in some ways has actively contributed to their construction. This realisation should temper our future research.