COURSE SCHEDULE
The course is always from 10:30-12:00 on Thursdays beginning February 19th.
It is held in the Philosophy and History of Science’s seminar room (Viničná 7 building, ground floor, end of the hall on the right, room P26). Because this room is unusual, it does not appear on SIS calendar.
In the case of remote viewing, a Zoom link will be provided via e-mail.
Tea, coffee, fruits nuts and various pastries will always be provided.
ON COURSE DELIVERY
All registering this course should know that this course is not certain to be given. Because of certain restrictions, this course is not worthy to be given without at least six attendees. If this need not be met by the second seminar, by no fault of the seminar’s content, it shall not be given, and more pressing things shall be done.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
As the title suggests, this course sets out to uncover and understand the intersections that exist between ecology, history, and myth.
One might ask: how may this intersectionality be posited? As the comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell says, “The myths and rites [of ancient times] were means of putting the mind in accord with the body and the way of life in accord with the way that nature dictates.” Such an understanding takes mythos to be a mediation with nature, thus making a myth eminently ecological (or ‘worldly’). In our day, countless ritual practices and beliefs which once mediated relations between the ‘mind and body’ or the ‘human and nature’ have passed into the unknown. This change was not brought about through some impartial and inevitable ‘natural’ process but by historical forces, world-orderings, colonialism and warfare; ideo-ecologies, ecomyths.
Moving beyond the reflexive debasement of the mythical as ‘superstitious’ or equivalent-to-falsehood normalized in modern cognizance opens a very real and complex plane of existential relations to the understanding. How did we get here? What metamorphoses has the human (and scientific) mind undergone? How do thoughts and actions belong to the ecosystem? What exists in myth that has since been forgotten, and how can we read myths ecologically? These such questions are broached in EHM.
Thus, the general and working hypothesis of the EHM seminar is as follows: the mythos of a culture (as the actuality of the culture’s self-aware sensibility) is representative of the culture’s ecology. Shifts in ecology parallel shifts in mythos, and vice versa; thus, ecomyths of the past and the present may be comprehended via historical consciousness. Our concern is the ongoing historical crisis of ecology and myth.
Previous deliveries of this course sought to move from a theoretical vantage (i.e., what schools of thought pre-exist which broach the problematic of ecomyth historicity and how might they formulate EHM critique) to a mythical one (i.e. what ecomyths animate our past, present and future). This vague trajectory is still visible in the seminar’s present ‘renatured’ form, which has been much-informed by previous deliveries. In this latest delivery, thinkers and aspects of history are given their fullest opportunity to become, a style which is in principle most fully beneficial to attendees.
Poslední úprava: Van Walsum Thorolf (05.02.2026)
Kontroly studia předmětu a podmínky pro jejich úspěšné vykonání, způsob hodnocení - angličtina
Requirements
Two requirements must be met to receive a ‘Pass’ for this seminar. Firstly, one must attend at least half of all seminars for a total of 6. Virtual attendance will not be counted without prior arrangement, though classes cancelled or delivered virtually will be counted as ‘attended’ for all.
Secondly, all seminar participants must produce one object of ‘mythical’ quality. As a rule of thumb, this object should take 1-3 days of dedication to produce, and stand to a degree of scrutiny. The presenter or the object must be able to communicate something about why this object exists, or how it relates to ecology/an ecosystem/a mythos. Deliberate absurdity or superficial subversivism will likely result in failure. Submissions are due June 5th. Previous submissions include:
·An essay
·A presentation
·A song
·A golem made of river-mud
Provided you keep your feet on the ground, the sky is the limit. I promise to personally assist those seeking to publicize or professionalize their assignments to the best of my ability. Please contact Thorolf for extensions or accommodations.
Grading is pass-fail. Students will pass if they successfully create an object of mythical/ecological relevance. Demonstration or proof of this relevance is required if non-evident. Students will fail if they plainly neglect the task, fail to participate in half or more of the classes, or if they fail to submit anything at all.
Poslední úprava: Van Walsum Thorolf (05.02.2026)
Sylabus - angličtina
Number and Date
Style
Titul a Popis [CZ]
Title And Description
[ENG]
Prep work
1.
February 19th
Short Lecture
Úvod – Od Mýtu k Logu a Zpět
Úvod do hlavních témat kurzu, otázek a pojmů. Ekologický význam a jeho zmizení. „Mýtus“, „logos“, „oikos“.
Introduction –Mythos to Logos and Back Again
Introduction to course core themes, question and concepts. Ecological meaning and its disappearance. ‘Mythos’, ‘Logos’, ‘Oikos’.
Intro. No prep work.
2.
February 26th
Full Lecture
Hrdinství, Cykličnost a Krádež-Ohně
Úvod do srovnávací mytologie Josepha Campbella. Recenze jeho „funkcí mýtu“, hrdinského monomythu a hrdinského vitalismu. Člověk a vzájemnost. Ekologie a odkaz mýtu o krádeži ohně a kritika hrdinského monoteismu.
Heroism, Cyclicity and the Fire-Theft
Introduction to the Comparative Mythology of Joseph Campbell. A review of his ‘functions of myth’, heroic monomyth and heroic vitalism. Man and reciprocity. The ecology and legacy of the fire-theft myth, and a critique of Heroic monotheism.
Opt. Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces interview, read LeGuin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction
3.
March 5th
Interactive Lecture
Fenomenologické Bytí
Co byla „fenomenologie“? Seznamte se s Heideggerovou fenomenologickou kritikou epistemologického věku, sledujte některé z jejích fyzických a psychických argumentů, naučte se některé z jejích klíčových pojmů. Zkoumejte bytí.
Phenomenological Being
What was ‘phenomenology’? Introduce the Heideggerian phenomenological critique of the Epistemological age, follow some of its physical and psychical arguments, learn some of its key terminologies. Interrogate Being.
Selections, Heidegger’s Introduction to Metaphysics &/or Thinking, Dwelling, Being. Opt. Watch Gawain and the Green Knight (2022)
4. March 12th
Full Lecture
Psychika a Historie
Analyzujte psychiku. Seznamte se s dvojicí pilířů klasické psychoanalýzy: Sigmundem Freudem a C. J. Jungem. Zhodnoťte jejich kosmologie ve světle jejich odkazu. Eros, Thanatos, psychika. Strukturalistická a poststrukturalistická psychoanalýza a Imago.
Psyche and History
Analyse psyche. Greet the twin pillars of classical psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud & C.J. Jung. Review their cosmologies in light of their legacy. Eros, Thanatos, Psyche. Structuralist & poststructuralist psychoanalysis and the Imago.
Etymological deconstruction of common-use word to point of having ‘ecological worldhood’. Opt. Readings in Sigmund Freud & C.J. Jung (TBD)
5.
March 19th
Full Lecture
Systémy a Gaia
Dekonstrukce ikonoklasmu a modlářství modernity a návrat mytologie. Co je to „historická ekologie“ a jaká je historická ekologie kapitalismu?
Systems & Gaia
Deconstructing modernity’s iconoclasm and idolatry & the mythological’s resurgence. What is ‘historical ecology’, and what is the historical ecology of capitalism?
Watch movie: Paprika (2006) Century of Self (2002)
Opt. Readings inBruno Latour & Jason W. Moore.
6.
March 26th
Lecture & Discussion
Za Hranicemi „Posvátného Z’enství“
Kdo byl první mezi bohy? O bublinách a pěně. Spravedlnost Antigony, spravedlnost Athény, spravedlnost Medúzy. O gynarchických společnostech/ekonomikách. Vztah patriarchátu a metafyziky.
Beyond ‘The Sacred Feminine’
Who was the first among Gods? Of Bubbles and Foam. Antigone’s justice, Athena’s justice, Medusa’s. On gynarchal societies/economies. The relation of Patriarchy & metaphysics.
Readings: Woman & Nature by Susan Griffin OR The Death of Nature by Carolyn Merchant (TBD)
7.
April 2nd
Lecture & Discussion
Zvířecí Povaha a Historie Vlka
Psychická sociologie animismu, některé příklady totemismu, trans-„lidské“ spojenectví. Dekonstrukce archetypu „vlka“ v kontextu domorodých, evropských a amerických kultur.
Animality and the History of Wolf
Psychic sociology of animism, some instances of totemism, trans-‘human’ alliance. Deconstruction of the ‘wolf’ archetype in Indigenous, European and American contexts.
Memory of Animals from Encyclopaedia of Celtic wisdom orsel. Of Wolves and Men.
Opt. Watch movie: Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind (1984)
8.
April 9th
Presentations or film
Prezentace Studentů // Film
Začátek s projekty týkajícími se výzkumu na zvířatech. Pokud studenti chtějí představit svůj závěrečný projekt formou prezentace, bude to právě v této hodině. Pokud nebudou žádné prezentace, budeme se dívat na film Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (Cane Toads: Nepřirozená historie).
Student Presentations // Film
Open with animal research projects. If students wish to present their final project in the form of a presentation, this will be the class in which they present. If there are no presentations, then we will be watching Cane Toads: An Unnatural History.
Mini-research project into particular assigned animal, to be shared at beginning of following class.
9.
April 16th
Full Lecture
Evropská Romantická Era
Jaká ideologie předcházela nástupu západního imperialismu? Jak evropské umění a filozofie reprezentovaly svůj oikos po industrializovaném imperialismu? Jaké metafory používaly, jaký je jejich historicko-ekologický význam?
The European Romantic Era
What ideology preceded the advent of Western imperialism? How did European art and philosophy represent their oikos following industrialized imperialism? What metaphors did they use, what is their historical-ecological meaning?
Readings: Selections TBD from Hegel, Schelling, Mary Shelley, Keats.
10.
April 23rd
Lecture & Discussion
Americká Ekologie
Jaký vztah měla americká společnost ke svému oikosu? Jak ovlivnil vzestup Ameriky moderní ideoekologickou krajinu? Jaká je základní ekologická struktura americké historie, neboli její „duch“? Diskutujte a rozebírejte různé interpretace románu Moby Dick od Hermana Melvilla.
American Ecology
How did American society relate to its oikos? How did America’s rise affect the modern ideo-ecological landscape? What is the essential ecological structure of American history, or ‘spirit’? Discuss and deconstruct various readings from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.
Readings: Free selection, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick
11.
April 30th
Full Lecture
Historické Kořeny Ekologie
Z jakého historického kontextu (jakého teoretického prostředí, jakých historických potřeb) vlastně ekologie vzešla? Pochopte dílo Ernsta Haeckela a jeho vliv v Evropě, přechod od vznešené vědy k vědě populární, vztah mezi vitalismem a mysticismem.
The Historical Origins of Ecology
From which historical context (which theoretical milieu, which historical necessities) did ecology actually spring? Understand Ernst Haeckel’s work and influence in Europe, the transition from noble to popular science, the relation between vitalism and mysticism.
Readings: Free browsing, Ernst Haeckel’s Kunstformen der Natur
12.
May 7th
Full Lecture
Orfické Ekologie
Úvod do kultu orfizmu a jeho odkazu. Historie západního idealismu, zrod a zánik hudby, evoluční bioakustika a lidská řeč. Mýtus a ekologie hada a ptáka.
Orphic Ecologies
Introduction to the cult of Orphism and its legacy. The history of Western idealism, the birth and death of music, evolutionary bioacoustics and human speech. Myth and ecology of the Serpent and the Bird.
Readings: TBD
Poslední úprava: Van Walsum Thorolf (05.02.2026)
Výsledky učení - angličtina
Ecology, History, Myth
The student:
Has basic historical-ecology literacy, and can formulate social/historical critiques ecologically.
Can reason critically about the human ecology associated with a myth, and vice versa.
Is modestly aware of their own ecological agency and mythical entanglements of the contemporary world.
Has a sense for the mythical-ecological status of a few living beings (incl. Wolf, Raven, Eagle, Serpent, Tree...), a few relevant classical concepts (Imago, Logos, Oikos...) and deities (Gaia, Chronos, Mnemosyne, Helios...).
Is generally acquainted with the historical ecology of the Modern West.
Poslední úprava: Švorcová Jana, Mgr., Ph.D. (20.01.2026)
