Sociology and Explanations (Re: Hitchens responds to critics

[Noam A]

Well, to take another example, assume we had perfect psychological profiles
of all of Hitler's inner circle. Could we have increased our understanding
of WWII? I think so. Critical strategic decisions were made at specific
times that drastically affected the course of history.

In the modern world, I think there is a place for to connect this kind of
analysis with action. The way a Powell-Wolfowitz conflict or a Peres-Sharon
conflict will go is based in large part on the reaction in the streets of
the world, and these conflicts will determine the course of history.
Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any easy way to predict how. This
realization may be one reason why the tendency exists to deny that these
conflicts are important. In determining whether they are or not, we must
ensure that the threat of an unconfortable answer doesn't get in the way.




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