Abstract
This article focuses on therelationship between science and myth. Its author (1) suggests that the theory of evolutionpro‐vides the most powerful mythic structure for our times; (2) points out the problems that arisefrom the fact that, historically, evolution became yoked to the earlier concept of material,technological “progress”; (3) argues for an interpretation of evolution that is basedon religious and psychological models of human development; and (4) proposes that such aninterpretation, in which personal and social growth is seen as the possible outcome ofevolutionary forces, may act as a corrective to a myth based on material progress.
Keywords
evolutionarymyth, cultural evolution, directive function, reflectiveconsciousness, explanatory function, myth system
How to Cite
Csikszentmihalyi, M., (2000) “The Mythic Potential of Evolution”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 35(1), 25–38. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/0591-2385.00257