ABSTRACT
The field of philosophy and the development of science have shown how employing reason can lead to greater understanding and medical and technological advances. The perception of people should arise from rational analysis rather than being seduced by the myths of the poets. The development of Western civilization, from Plato's day onwards, has been viewed as the triumph of reason over myth. Plato's criticism of the poets and their stories (the mythos), and his appeal to analytical reason as the proper way for people to know about the world (the logos), has been viewed as setting the path for the subsequent two thousand years of philosophical thought and scientific discovery. Modern civilization may be a triumph of human reason in terms of its technological and scientific developments but, in terms of human psychology, embracing the logos does not necessarily mean abandoning the mythos.
