Abstract. – Religion, literature, philosophy, and sciences have originated from myths. A scientific theory of the myth is thus decisive to the comprehension of the history of mind and culture. Since its beginning, the related research sways between relativistic and developmental approaches. Many authors have used developmental approaches in order to understand the production and reception of myths. This essay shows that only a developmental approach has the capacity to understand the true nature of the myth and mythical thinking. The consequences of these considerations go far beyond mythology and address basic questions of the history of human culture. [myth, fantasy, imagination, sense for reality, child thinking, psychological stages, human development, rationality, developmental psychology]