Why are dominant social theories built on myth, not truth?

You establish a religion. You want people to follow you. You can claim you are a great swimmer. That is a good strategy. After all, many people worship sports stars. But one day, someone is going to swim faster than you, or at least as fast as you. You are no more unique. Your religion won’t have followers after many years. To build a religion that will last, it has to be built on a myth. For example, you can walk on water. No one else, no matter how talented he is, no matter how hard he practices, he can’t walk on water. This ensures your supernatural power worthy of following.

Any religion is built on myth, or religious truth, but not truth. The founder of a religion may be born by a virgin. He may have met some angels or God himself. A doctrine passed down from God, or angels, is much more authoritative than mere mortals. Hence the religion is worthy of your worshiping. The same idea applies to kings and emperors. In China, emperors called themselves the son of god (天子). The emperor might be very smart, might be very ferocious. But someone smarter, more ferocious may eye for the position of the emperor. To preempt such attempts, the emperor must claim that he is the son of god. He is there by destiny, not by his mere talent and effort. It is by myth, not by truth, that a religion, or a dynasty lasts for a long time.

Myths attract more followers. Myths unite more people. Ideologies developed from myths hence dominate societies. But truth is often useful in solving practical problems. With the expansion of ocean navigation, astronomy became very important.  After Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton, people gradually realized that the movement of planets can be described by simple mathematical formulas. Furthermore, these simple mathematical formulas can be derived from some simple universal principles, such as gravitational law. This is the birth of modern science.

Because of the immense explanatory power of science, it enjoys growing prestige over time. This weakens the prestige of religion, from which the ruling class harbors its legitimacy. The ruling elites feel the need to enlist the help from science. They want science to provide legitimacy to their ruling. They want science to prove their ruling will last eternally. They want their dominance to be regarded as the optimal equilibrium state, or “the end of history”.

But there is one problem. Geological evidence shows that most once dominant species went extinct over time. History shows that all once dominant social systems collapsed over time. An equilibrium theory is not consistent with biological and historical evidence. An equilibrium theory is not consistent with physical laws.

However, an equilibrium theory satisfies the longing for eternity. Where there is a demand, there is a supply. Currently, the dominant economic theory is the general equilibrium theory. If you look at the actual theory, its mathematical model, the Arrow Debreu model, is very sloppy. If a model is so sloppy, why does it enjoy such great prestige? Well, the stories of someone meeting angels or God himself may not be less sloppy. Those stories enjoy no less prestige. A dominant social theory is decorated with prestigious ornaments. Theology is ornamented by great artists, such as Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Mainstream economic theories are decorated with many Nobel prizes.  A theory, or a theology, enjoys great prestige because it satisfies a great demand, not because it tells the truth. 

Truth, or dis-illusion, get people disillusioned. Illusion is necessary to prevent disillusion. That is why dominant social theories are always based on myth, not truth. It doesn’t matter whether such theories are supposed to be based on religion, or science.