Myth as Epistemic Infrastructure

What Ancient Greek Narratives Teach Us About Believing and Doubting Information

Abstract

In the digital era, the overflow of information, misinformation, the echo chamber and the post-truth culture are profoundly influencing the knowledge building process of individuals and societies. In this context, the study argues that ancient Greek myth is not just a cultural or religious statement; Rather, it can be considered an epistemic infrastructure that organizes the principles of belief, suspicion, testimony, authority, and fact-checking. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the structures of knowledge acquisition, acceptance or rejection of information, and collective belief formation in ancient Greek myth can serve as an effective explanatory model for analyzing contemporary data crises. The study conducts a qualitative literature analysis using intensive reading, comparative text-analysis, and interpretive criticism methods. Selected Greek tragedies and myths, including Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Agamemnon, The Bacchae, are analyzed in the light of the theoretical framework of narrative epistemology, social epistemology, and misinformation studies. The analysis shows that processes such as the credibility of testimony, cognitive bias, power influence, reproduction of collective statements, and ignoring warning signals are structured in ancient myth in a way that bears a profound resemblance to the workings of modern misinformation, epistemic injustice, and the functioning of the Echo Chamber. The study concludes that ancient Greek myth is not just a literary tradition of the past; Rather, it provides an effective interdisciplinary analytical framework for rethinking contemporary information-culture, critical thinking, and epistemic resilience.