Why do we need a theory of myth? Because no systematic theory exists, let alone a consensus. What I am particularly interested in addressing are not specific theories of myth, or specific myths themselves, but rather what constitutes a good theory. In particular, throughout our investigation I hope to illuminate what a proper theory of myth would be expected to offer in terms of its descriptive and explanatory power, coherency, generality, meaningfulness, and functional utility. Here I offer a theoretic typology of myth by exploring the origin, signification, symbolic structure, and essence of myth in terms of its source, force, form, object, and teleology derived from archaic ontology. Through my analysis of an explanandum and an explanans, I argue that both interpretation and explanation are acts of explication that signify the ontological significance, truth, and psychic reality of myth in both individuals and social collectives.

中文翻译：

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走向神话理论

为什么我们需要神话理论？因为没有系统的理论存在，更不用说达成共识了。我特别感兴趣的不是神话的特定理论，也不是神话本身，而是构成一个好的理论的内容。特别是，在整个调查过程中，我希望从描述性和解释性，连贯性，普遍性，意义性和功能效用方面阐明一个神话理论所能提供的内容。在这里，我通过从原始本体论衍生而来的神话的来源，力，形式，对象和目的论等方面探讨神话的起源，含义，符号结构和本质，从而提供了神话的理论类型学。通过我对解释词和解释词的分析我认为，解释和解释都是一种说明性的行为，表示个体和社会集体中神话的本体论意义，真理和心理现实。