In our first two episodes, Living in a Mythopoeia Part I and II, we discuss foundational principles: how can we understand the world, and where has modern philosophy gone wrong? What is the relationship between culture, including a set of shared myths, and a healthy society? How has science changed the way we see the world? In this first episode we focus on the French philosopher, Chantal Delsol; please see the Episode Notes and Transcript for more information as well as definitions of terms. Here I will simply define the term in the episode’s title, the word Mythopoeia, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “the creation of a myth or myths,” and has been used in particular to describe the prophetic books of William Blake, as well as J. R. R. Tolkien’s invented mythology – in other words, an individual’s own private religion. In what sense do we need myths, and what are the myths of our time? 

This episode was pre-recorded on May 15, 2020. We began our discussion by describing our research backgrounds.