The Moral Equivalent of War, William James
The Moral Equivalent of War, William James
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The Moral Equivalent of War

Author: William James

Narrator: Douglas Harvey

Unabridged: 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/22/2021


Synopsis

This essay is based upon a speech given at Stanford University in 1906, William James’ last public utterance and is the original expression of the idea of non-military national service. While acknowledging the horrors of war and its motives, he also acknowledges the benefits that accrue when groups of people address themselves to a common purpose evident in military behavior. The modern reader will no doubt find certain attitudes regarding sex, race, and conquest of nature outdated. Nonetheless, one can’t help but admire the enlightened principles that have led to the establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Peace Corps, VISTA, and AmeriCorps, and will likely be part of the effort to deal with global warming and climate change.

The following from the essay is the gist of James’ thesis:

“If now -- and this is my idea -- there were, instead of military conscription, a conscription of the whole youthful population to form for a certain number of years a part of the army enlisted against Nature, the injustice would tend to be evened out, and numerous other goods to the commonwealth would remain blind as the luxurious classes now are blind, to man’s relations to the globe he lives on, and to the permanently sour and hard foundations of his higher life. To coal and iron mines, to freight trains, to fishing fleets in December, to dishwashing, clotheswashing, and windowwashing, to road-building and tunnel-making, to foundries and stoke-holes, and to the frames of skyscrapers, would our gilded youths be drafted off, according to their choice, to get the childishness knocked out of them, and to come back into society with healthier sympathies and soberer ideas.”

About William James

American psychologist and philosopher William James (1842-1910), brother of novelist Henry James, was a groundbreaking researcher at Harvard University and one of the most popular thinkers of the nineteenth century. Among his many works are Principles of Psychology and Human Immortality.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Thom on March 12, 2013

This twenty-four page essay by William James was written in 1910 and now proves (with the 20/20 hindsight of history) very insightful and intuitive. The dissertation begins with different examples of wars and warmongers and then tries to prove the inevitability of the continuation of conflict. The u......more

Goodreads review by Zhifei on December 12, 2011

It's better to read books of philosophy or of that nature than listening to them.......more

Goodreads review by Richard on June 01, 2021

I enjoyed that this essay spends a very long time building to it's objective without actually mentioning what it will be. It was interesting throughout, and reading past the author's un-woke words to understand his intentions is no hardship. The following quote amusingly contains both an excellent su......more

Goodreads review by Steve on November 09, 2022

In this short essay written in the first decade of the 20th century, William James argues on behalf of the hope for world peace. He acknowledges the seminal role of war in history, and even that it has its "pros," per its apologists: war tests human character, and promotes virtues such as honor, sac......more

Goodreads review by Krishnanunni on August 13, 2021

Maybe it's because I live in a protected privileged 21st-century reality, I feel that James' idea, that the values which are transferred through militarism can be conserved only through militarism, is a little difficult to digest. Maybe it is because I was educated in a Post-Colonial India. Schools r......more