"Who in their right mind wants war?"
Posted: May 18th, 2009, 7:42 am
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Early in the 20th century, in his essay "The Moral Equivalent of War," William James (1910) drew dramatic attention to an aspect of human thought that many in his time would have rather ignored, namely, the paradoxical human attitude toward war and violence.
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James saw clearly that while human beings generally agree that war is hell, people are drawn to this hell, are fascinated with this hell, and actively seek this hell in response to some inner urging we only vaguely understand. The power of this inner urging to embrace war is deterred very little by demonstrating the irrationality and horror of warfare and violence. If anything, it seems that the horrors are intrinsic to the thrill. The horrors increase the fascination and response to this deeply felt urge to embrace the massively destructive power that war represents.
James clearly recognized that a substantial element of our attraction to warfare was beyond reason and logic. James described this as life in extremis. He took seriously the body of military literature extolling warfare and the martial character, largely ignored by his progressive thinking colleagues. In this body of writing, James encountered a mystical love and fascination with warfare, which remained impervious to rational arguments on the level of an economic cost/benefit analysis.
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http://ernestbecker.org/orange/lectures/default.htm