Jeff Russell

Okay, I have to admit to being a bit dramatic with the "arch" part. And to be fair, the only Graeber I've read is his article "Debt: the First 5,000 Years," not the later much more extensive expansion into a full book (it's been on my list for years). As for what I mean by "Marxist," I mean that my understanding is that he self-described as a Marxist and used a Marxist-derived theoretical basis for understanding things - looking mostly at economic conditions and conflicts between classes to understand historical and social trends. My accusations of Procrusteanism come from what I did get from the article-length version of "Debt," especially on the origins of money and early urbanization, which did not exactly jive with what I've read on those subjects elsewhere, and where they didn't match, seemed to do so in a way consistent with a Marxist understanding of societal development. All told, though, I was likely being slightly unfair, and as I said, I really am looking forward to reading his book, as I've heard that it is a remarkable work, whether or not you agree with the conclusions he draws in it.

As for Girard, I get the impression some folks at least have gotten some mileage from looking at various cultures or events and asking "what would I conclude about this if Girard's theory were true?" and gotten results they found useful. From my very limited understanding, I think that it might be helpful for understanding things like fads and fashions, but I share your skepticism that it is the underlying driver of all human striving and conflict.

Also, I was not aware of the centrality he gave human sacrifice, and yeah, that does seem like a weird way of conceptualizing things. I assume that in any culture that engages in animal sacrifice, there has at some point, somewhere, been someone who engaged in human sacrifice, if they were at it long enough, because the logic is pretty straightforward: if killing an animal pleases the Gods, and killing higher value animals pleases them more, then what about the highest value thing? To argue that this is fundamental to all religious expressions everywhere, though, that seems a stretch, especially given the highly variable frequency, significance, and just about every other factor having to do with human sacrifice around the world and across cultures.

By the way, I wanted to say explicitly (since it's the internet and there's fewer context clues) that I appreciate your comments and am enjoying the conversation, even if there's been some disagreement. For what it's worth, Graeber's higher on my "to get to" reading list than Girard!