FOUNDATION FOR THE STUDY OF POLITICAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
Andrew Hammer, Executive Director

WARFARE LIES AT THE BEGINNING OF CIVILIZATION
Richard Koenigsberg

Warfare lies at the beginning of and is the essence of  civilization. War is the ultimate "social activity," bringing together massive numbers of human beings to kill and die (in the name of a sacred ideal). 
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If someone dies in a war, there must be something he or she is dying for. This “thing” one dies for holds the group together. Warfare turns nothing into something by virtue of death. If people die in large numbers, there must be something for which they are dying. Nations come into being by virtue of collective experiences of violent death. 
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It’s difficult to conceive that human beings die for ideas possessing no validity. Dead and mangled bodies on the field of battle imply the existence of some “thing” in the name of which the frenzied dying and killing had occurred. 
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Although we can't point to a particular object and say, “This is the nation,” we think of nations as concrete, substantial entities. Nations are, however, abstract ideas. The fundamental question: “What is the meaning of this abstract idea, a nation?” Scholars "deconstruct" every term. But "the nation" remains inviolable. Why does this word attract allegiance and gain such power over the minds and hearts of human beings?"
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