From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sat Nov 22 2003 - 21:03:31 GMT
Platt and all:
Campbell: The earliest evidence of anything like mythological thinking
is associated with graves. ..And there is no evidence that humans thought
about death in a significant way until the Neanderthal period, when weapons
and animal sacrifices occur with burials.
Moyers: What did these sacrifices represent?
Campbell: I try not to guess. You know, we have a tremendous amount of
information about this subject, but there is a place where the
information stops. And until you have writing, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE
PEOPLE WERE THINKING. All you have are significant remains of one kind
or another. YOU CAN EXTRAPOLATE BACKWARD, BUT THAT IS DANGEROUS (emphasis
added)
Platt said:
Thanks for making my point Mr. Campbell. ..Since Pirsig equates 'thinking'
with intellect, I push intellect back to early man as the main
characteristic that distinguishes humans from animals.
dmb replies:
The Moyers/Cambell interviews are available on video tape and such. What
you've found is a transcript from a PBS TV show. But more to the point, what
Campbell is talking about here is not the beginning of intellect, but rather
the beginning of mythology, of the social level. In any case, its quite a
stretch to use an alternate species of man that has been extinct for 40,000
years. And that's putting politely.
The oldest known written story is probably the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is
only 4,000 years old. And even that is a myth. Writing it down doesn't mean
it is intellectual, you know. Think of the written stories that begin with,
"Dear Penthouse, You'll never believe what happened to me..." It doesn't
matter how grammatically perfect or how impressive the vocabulary, we're
still only talking about porn. ;-)
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