ABSTRACT
Speculative thought transcends experience, but only because it attempts to explain, to unify, to order experience. The irrational aspect of myth becomes especially clear when we remember that the ancients were not content merely to recount their myths as stories conveying information. The authors find that if we attempt to define the structure of mythopoeic thought and compare it with that of modern thought, the differences will prove to be due rather to emotional attitude and intention than to a so-called prelogical mentality. The mythopoeic thought may succeed no less than modern thought in establishing a co-ordinated spatial system; but the system is determined, not by objective measurements, but by an emotional recognition of values. For the life of man and the function of the state are for mythopoeic thought imbedded in nature;, and the natural processes are affected by the acts of man no less than man's life depends on his harmonious integration with nature.
