William James Quotes
Modern war is so expensive that we feel trade to be a better avenue to plunder; but modern man inherits all the innate pugnacity and all the love of glory of his ancestors.
James, William. Memories and Studies. Longmans, Green, and Co., 1911, p. 273.
See {613496} for the origin of the “thrashing a cannibal” phrase.
Many modern psychologists would disagree with James as they would argue that the pugnacity is learned from culture and environment.
Cunningham was part of an American Diplomatic Delegation negotiating with the Vietnamese. He had been an Naval Ace Fighter Pilot during the Vietnam War. He was notorious for his lack of tact.
Clinton was one of the leaders of the anti-war movement of the day. He even ran for President on the new “Peace Party.” New England, New York and many people in the Atlantic states thought the war of 1812 absurd. In reality, while the law was good for American morale and national pride, the casualties we suffered and the cost was far greater than what we were losing in our dispute with England. In actuality, France (under Napoleon) was offending America and seizing our shipping more than England. Note that Clinton was advocating negotiation even AFTER we would be attacked. This is in a way the complete opposite of the George W. Bush doctrine of preemption—attacking a hostile state BEFORE it has attacked us so as to prevent the casualties of an attack. The Bush doctrine was a great blunder in its only implementation—Iraq did NOT have the weapons of mass destruction that Bush and his administration claimed they had to justify the preemptive war.
William James was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the late nineteenth century, one of the most influential philosophers of the United States, and the "Father of American psychology".
