What question did this study set out to answer?

The research aims to explain the persistence of myths and their role in the human experience of subjecthood and death.

March 12, 2026Open Access

Myth as Remainder Intuition: A Mythology Application of the Self-as-an-End Framework / 神话作为余项的直觉:Self-as-an-End框架的神话应用

Key Points

The research aims to explain the persistence of myths and their role in the human experience of subjecthood and death.
Develops a two-layer model of base-layer and emergence-layer dynamics.
Establishes criteria for detecting colonization in myth and narrative forms.
Applies a unified four-question template to analyze four civilizations regarding myths.
Constructs a 2×2 matrix with testable predictions based on the model.
Demonstrates that myths cannot be eradicated due to their fundamental role in subjecthood.
Reports findings that myths serve as a defense against the colonization of human experience by emerging narratives.
Establishes a set of predictions regarding the dynamics of myth across different civilizations.

Abstract

This paper asks why myths cannot be killed. Core claim: myth responds not to a need for natural explanation, but to a remainder in the conditions of subjecthood — the individual boundary cannot be rationally closed in the face of death. Science can replace the explanatory function of myth, but cannot touch its subject-function. Myth is the base layer's counter against emergence-layer colonization. The paper provides a two-layer model (base-layer intuition → emergence-layer narrative), a colonization/nurturing distinction, three colonization detection criteria, a unified four-question template applied to four civilizations (animism, ancient Egypt, Sumer, Chinese ancestor worship), and four testable predictions organized as a 2×2 matrix (base↔emergence × positive/negative). Bilingual: English and Chinese. 本文不讨论神话"真假",只讨论神话"为什么不可被消灭"。核心主张:神话是基础层对涌现层殖民的counter。本文给出一个二层模型、一个殖民/涵育区分、三条殖民检测判据、四个文明的统一结构分析、以及2×2矩阵的四条可检验预测。中英双语。 Keywords Self-as-an-End, mythology, remainder, colonization, nurturing, animism, ancestor worship, death anxiety, subject-conditions, base layer, emergence layer, chisel-construct cycle License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Resource Type Preprint Related Identifiers Is supplement to: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18528813 (SAE Paper 1: Systems, Emergence, and the Conditions of Personhood) DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18666645 (SAE Paper 2: Internal Colonization and the Reconstruction of Subjecthood) DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18727327 (SAE Paper 3: The Complete Self-as-an-End Framework) DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18842450 (SAE Methodological Overview) DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18914682 (ZFCρ: Remainder as Structural Limit of Formalization) References: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18829136 (SAE AI Consciousness Paper) DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18871235 (SAE Posterior Quasi-Consciousness) DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18867390 (SAE Education Paper) DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18897147 (Introspection Application: To Study the Self)

Myth as Remainder Intuition: A Mythology Application of the Self-as-an-End Framework / 神话作为余项的直觉:Self-as-an-End框架的神话应用

Key Points

Abstract

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