Why Men Fight

by Bertrand Russell

Overview

This book is a collection of Russell's lectures during the early phase of WW1. These works cover different aspect of human life such as state, religion, education, marriage to name some, by going through these lectures one got to understand the real mind set of this thinker par excellence ; the jest of this work is the preaching of humanity both in collective and in individual sense. Thru these pages we see a person who want person/society to thrive on its natural creative instincts, an atmosphere where there is only compassion and benevolence where there will be no fear of state authority in a negative way where children will not strait jacketed to think in some particular way and where term patriotism is not confined to one's own country/tribe/community but also to understand the feeling of other people towards their country and community.

Writing style is reader friendly and narration is easy on mind the content is quiet easily communicated to the recipient which is not an easy task specially if the subject is philosophy here Russell has proved his mastery of words and communication skills.

One thing is quiet interesting and that is the misjudgment on the part of Russell regarding the role of USA in the world war, he predicted that America will not go to war because it has no external danger; well two years after the delivery of this lecture USA did enter the war on the side of Britain and France this proves that mistakes could be incurred by the even the brightest of minds. this book is a must read for all the thinking minds with an intent to make this world a better place (Saad Din)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781636373355
Publisher:	Bibliotech Press
Publication date:	11/11/2022
Pages:	154
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

Read an Excerpt

in WAR AS AN INSTITUTION IN spite of the fact that most nations at most times, are at peace, war is one of the permanent institutions of all free communities, just as Parliament is one of our permanent institutions in spite of the fact that it is not always sitting. It is war as a permanent institution that I wish to consider: why men tolerate it; why they ought not to tolerate it; what hope there is of their coming not to tolerate it; and how they could abolish it if they wished to do so. War is a conflict between two groups, each of which attempts to kill and maim as many as possible of the other group in order to achieve some object which it desires. The object is generally either power or wealth. It is a pleasure to exercise authority over other men, and it is a pleasure to live on the produce of other men's labor. The victor in war can enjoy more of these delights than the vanquished.But war, like all other natural activities, is not so much prompted by the end which it has in view as by an impulse to the activity itself. Very often men desire an end, not on its own account, but because their nature demands the actions which will lead to the end. And so it is in this case: the ends to be achieved by war appear in prospect far more important than they will appear when they are realized, because war itself is a fulfilment of one side of our nature. If men's actions sprang from desires for what would in fact bring happiness, the purely rational arguments against war would have long ago put an end to it. What makes war difficult to suppress is that it springs from an impulse, rather than from a calculation of the advantages to be derived from war. War differs from theemployment of force by the police through the fact that the actions of the police are ordered by a ne...

Table of Contents

Introduction Preface 1. The Principle of Growth 2. The State 3. War as Institution 4. Property 5. Education 6. Marriage and the Population Question 7. Religion and the Churches 8. What can we Do Index