I'm not an anthropolgist, although I have a degree that suggests I am, but I took quite a few courses on the subject. The only place I ever saw Campbell discussed was in a set of survey courses on major religions. These were not part of the anthro dept. I don't think it was even the same college.
Loren said, about the sprit plane
>
> That's how I think the Spirit Plane should appear to hunter-gatherers
> such as the Praxians and Pentans.
>
Lots of good stuff here, but the Praxians and Pentans are mounted
herders, not hunter gatherers. This is not a minor distinction. The
mindsets are totally different.
A quick quote: "As protectors of their flocks and herds against predators, they also preserved the spirit of the hunter, lost to agriculturalists except of the lordly class; in their managment of animals they showed a matter-of-factness - in mustering, droving, culling, slaghter for food - that taught direct lessons about how masses of people on foot, even inferior cavalrymen, could be harried, outflanked, cornered and eventually killed without risk. These were practices that primitive hunters, with their empathic relationship with their quarry and mystic respect for the stricken prey, would have found intrinsically alien."
This is from "A History of Warfare". It is not totally applicable to the Praxians, due to the Waha cult, but it is to the Pentans. The diferences are not just in how the society thinks of and carries out warfare. The differences in approach to warfare are products of, and shown in other ways in, the society.
Not to take anything away from what is a useful and interesting post, but not all non-agricultural societies are hunter-gatherers. Some Praxians are, but not the animal nomads.
Kevin
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