Myth functioned as action-shaping material, not just representation

Evidence

Myth was not merely a (mis)representation of the real. It was material for shaping the possibilities and limits of action. And in general it appears to have done this by feeding the desire to display the actual—a desire that became increasingly difficult to satisfy as the experiential opportunities of modernity multiplied. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 127

Categorization

• DEFINE: Asad’s revision of myth’s role — material for shaping action rather than belief object — is a precise conceptual contribution.
• XREF: connects to: Political myths mobilize action through images while utopias only mislead. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2076