The Psychology of Nations: A Contribution to the Philosophy of HistoryPartridge, G. E. (George Everett)
Philosophy
The Psychology of Nations: A Contribution to the Philosophy of History
Partridge, G. E. (George Everett)
Education; History -- Philosophy; War
The further details of the cult of hatred in Germany need not detain
us, since the purpose is only to suggest here the connection of hatred
with the national pessimism, the fear and the inferiority motive of
Germany. We see a similar attitude in Austria, where there is a
violent race hatred toward the Serbians, which Le Bon has regarded as
the motive from which Austria went to war. Ferrero comments upon the
fact that hatred is conspicuously absent in America, and says that the
greater hatred in Europe is due not only to the obvious result of
nations being crowded together, but also to the caste system which
limits the freedom of the individual and tends to engender deep
passions. Dide (20) says that in Germany preoccupation with the idea
of injustice is a cause of war, and Chapman (39) also remarks that
Germany had gone mad thinking of her wrongs. That jealousy and fear
are in general the substratum of national hatred is deeply impressed
upon one in studying the psychology of Germany. All the hate motive of
the late war might well be found in Germany's prayer "_Gott strafe
England._" Germany appealed to God to punish England, of course,
because Germany herself could not. Both the appeal and the hatred are
reactions of fear and a sense of impotence. Germany hated England
because England was secure behind her navy, upon her island, beyond
the reach of the war machine which is Germany's symbol of power and
the compensation for her sense of inferiority and weakness.
_The Instinct of Combat_
We may distinguish in the motives of war between the aggressive
tendency, which we have already discussed as a reaction of fear or of
anger, and a more specific instinct of combat as a possession of the
individual, less subject to suggestion, less closely related to the
phenomena of the herd. The aggressive reaction we associate, or some
writers do associate it, with the _predatory instinct_, practical in
its motive, having in part an economic basis. The love of combat which
appears especially as a play motive in the child and the youth is
expressed as a desire for conquest and in the pleasure of overcoming
an enemy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account