Campbell did understand that while myths have poetical truth, the kind of truth all made-up stories have, they do not have the factual and logical truth to be found in historical narratives and in bodies of scientific knowledge. He must therefore have understood the difference between poetical and logical truth, being himself a social scientist. He must have understood the criteria by which the truth of generalizations in sociology or cultural anthropology can be tested, proved, and disproved, criteria he would not himself apply to poetical narratives or mythologies. It may be true that some religions are misconstrued mythologies having poetical but not factual or logical truth. By purely rhetorical means, ill-concealed innuendo intended to discredit, not disprove, religious beliefs.
Myths are full of metaphors, for metaphors are essential ingredients in poetry.
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