Sociology and Explanations (Re: Hitchens responds to critics

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Mon Oct 1 14:45:52 PDT 2001


Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> kelley wrote:
>
> >does anyone psychoanalyze the masterminds of our war machine?
>
> I don't know, but someone should. Why not?
>

Why? I honestly don't understand why anyone (orther than his/her spouse, therapist, etc) would have more than merely aesthetic interest in the psychology of either terrorists or masterminds. Surely every personality, even of identical twins at birth, is unique, but yet there are innumerable people who could/would fulfill any social function (terrorist or, at a lower level of humanity, secretaries of state or chiefs of joint chiefs of staff) that one might mention. Were psychological theory X true and complete, and had we perfect psychological profiles of the whole of Nixon's administration, it might have a sort of sunday supplement interest (sometimes I do read sunday supplements), but it would surely not increase in any way our understanding of the Vietnam War.

Carrol



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