Mütlogika

Mütlogika is an interdisciplinary field that investigates the logical structure of myths, folk tales, and mythmaking processes. The term is used in some European and Eurasian scholarly circles as a label for approaches that treat myths not only as narratives but as systems of reasoning about causation, identity, and the nature of the world.

Definition and scope: The field examines how myths justify beliefs, organize social action, and encode knowledge about origins, using concepts such as inference, consistency, and explanatory power. It sits at the crossroads of comparative myth studies, folklore, philosophy of logic, and literary theory, and it often involves cross-cultural analysis of mythic arguments.

Methods and approaches: Researchers employ formal methods, including modal logic, narrative logic, and semantic networks, alongside computational text analysis and close reading. Mythic arguments may be modeled as structured sequences of propositions that can be evaluated for internal coherence within the story’s own frame. Cross-disciplinary methods help compare how different cultures use myth to address similar questions about reality, agency, and value.

History and reception: The term mütlogika is relatively new and remains a topic of debate. Some scholars view it as a useful heuristic for cross-disciplinary analysis of myths, while others criticize it for risk of over-formalization or a disconnect from cultural and ritual contexts.

Relation and significance: MüɁlogika intersects cognitive science of religion, anthropology, and literary studies, offering analytic tools to compare how diverse cultures construct explanations, norms, and worldviews through myth. See also myth, logic, folklore studies.