Mythology: Moritz and the Logic of Fantasy
Abstract
We aim to present Karl Philipp Moritz's thoughts on mythology as expressed in his Doctrine of Gods [Götterlehre] of 1791. Despite being relatively unknown, the author has been acknowledged as an important figure in the aesthetic thought of the period by authors such as Goethe, Schiller, and Schelling. We would like to analyze Moritz's novel perspective on approaching mythological creations, understood as a language of fantasy, distinct from the usual allegorical and historical interpretations. This approach, emphasizing the autonomous nature of mythology, is grounded, as we argue, in the aesthetic thought he developed in earlier years. Here, the assertion of a concept of a perfect and self-contained work of art, and the notion of an artistic creation whose organic formative force precedes subjectivity, constitute complementary poles of a radical thought on the autonomy of art, which, not coincidentally, seems to find its fullest expression precisely in Moritz's conception of mythology. Lastly, this intricate relationship between aesthetics and mythology reveals a new way of thinking, or, if we prefer, a new logic, critical of the determinations of traditional metaphysics and much closer to a symbolic thought.
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