-----Original Message----- From: Eric Yost <NYCEric@xxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Dec 8, 2004 12:48 AM To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: CFP: PEACE REVIEW on the Psychological Interpretation of War Andy wanted to know: What are some of the bases for the assertion that this is a silly thesis? _____ Andy, I don't save posts, so I can't get too specific unless he spams again. One of the things that struck me was the way he addressed the phenomenology of being a soldier without any recourse to what it actually feels like to be a soldier. So instead of discussing what it means to fight in order to protect one's comrades, he brought in myth, the unconscious, social contracts, and repression of eros. These theoretical constructs can be fun but they have nothing to do with what a soldier experiences. Anyone who wants to describe X by using a bag of ideas without specific reference to X is a tad suspect I think. Maybe Judith remembers more of Koenigsburg's screed? A.A. I don't know who Koenigsburg is except he did I think have a Ph.D. after his name. The forum for which he was soliciting also had Rorty as a contributor, if I remember correctly. Nevertheless, his question is very relevant and, importantly, has historically not been asked. Rather it's always been the opposite, that war has been glorified in one form or another. Wilfred Owen, Kurt Vonegut and a handful of others notwithstanding, and those always during war, there is very little literary or philosophical or pedagogical or any other opposition to war. Not such a far fetched conclusion: people love war. His is an amazing, heretofore unasked, question: why love something that is so pain filled and destructive? Regarding a soldier's experience, soldiers basically do what they're told by society. The fact that humanity has such poor conflict resolution skills given all the other intellectual and artistic achievements speaks to deep seated, veiled issues. Asking the question that Koenigsburg is asking is critical, and it is both telling and disappointing that virtually no one has done it before him or is doing it now. Andy Amago Eric ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html