· 2026
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
- 265citations
- 2026year
Short summary
War is not noble or glorious, but a destructive force that perverts human desire and embraces death over life, according to Chris Hedges.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Human beings are conditioned to believe in the "myth of war" as noble and glorious.
- Nations and empires have fallen when they believed in the myths of war and their own exceptionalism.
- The reality of war involves the destruction of culture and the perversion of human desire.
- War ultimately leads to an embrace of death over life, not glory.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Drawing on the literature of combat, from Homer and Shakespeare to Erich Maria Remarque and Michael Herr, Hedges argues that human beings are conditioned to embrace what he calls "the myth of war"--The idea that combat is noble, selfless, and glorious, and yet, if human history is any guide, nations and imperiums have stumbled and even fallen when they believed the myths peddled about war and about themselves. The reality of war, asserts Hedges, with first-hand experience, is about the destruction of culture, the perversion of human desire, and the embrace, ultimately, of death over life.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source., 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Philosophy
PhilosophyArts and Humanities