[lit-ideas] Re: CFP: PEACE REVIEW on the Psychological Interpretation of War
- From: Andy Amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 16:41:32 -0500 (GMT-05:00)
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Yost <NYCEric@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Dec 8, 2004 2:36 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: CFP: PEACE REVIEW on the Psychological Interpretation
of War
Andy may believe that Koenigsburg's question is new and brave, but I
think Koenigsburg's just trying to clear an academic niche using the
wrong tools.
A.A. Historically few have asked the question except perhaps to some extent
Plato who thought Homer needed the classical equivalent of a V chip. Current
psychoanalytical writing barely scratches the surface.
E.Y. Psychoanalytic writing about war and conflict is nothing new. Wilhelm
Reich, Erich Fromm, Norman O. Brown, Karl Menninger, Colin Wilson, and
Arthur Koestler have all tried to establish working theses about human
destructiveness. Many have also studied the effect of group behavior on
violence.
A.A. Human motivation is a work in progress. Because others have studied it
is not a reason to stop studying it.
E.Y. Few prescriptions result from these studies: Koestler concluded that our
warlike nature was the result of a wrong turn in evolution, one that put
our neocortex under the control of our limbic system, and that we should
all spend our lives on drugs designed to reroute our violent impulses.
Fromm and Brown (in "Anatomy of Human Destructiveness" and "Love Against
Death: the Psychoanalytic Meaning of History") have concluded that
society should change so as to minimize the emergence of "necrophiliac
personality types" or hinder the ascendancy of death-centered thinking.
A.A. Prescriptions are a dime a dozen. K. wasn't looking for prescriptions,
just thoughts.
E.Y. Koenigsburg comes late to this strand of humanist psychology and doesn't
seem to have much to add to it except his name, a large mailing list,
and his ambition. Plus he doesn't respond to objections from any of the
groups he spams regardless of their qualifications.
A.A. When is late? Is the field closed, brimming with insight? It sounds
based on this thread that objections are not substantive and focused on his
person. Objections to his call for thoughts are of the "what a stupid idea"
variety.
Andy Amago
Eric
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