Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2003 14:17:01 -0600
Subject: BHA: Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, Re Flourishing, Aristotle etc




"Moodey, Richard W" wrote:
> 
> Hi James,
> 
> One of the advantages of a list is that we are forced to be more explicit about what we mean, and can review exactly what we said before.  I think Bourne, and Hegel, are partially right, and partially wrong.  A state can be "healthy" only in a metaphorical sense -- it isn't really an organism.  So they are wrong.  But the metaphor suggests a number of propositions about the state that I think are right.  Such as: war tends to decrease internal conflicts within a state; war tends to empower officials of the state; war increases the legitimacy of the state in the eyes of the people; etc.

Would anyone seriously want to claim that "Plato," "Aristotle," even
"Demos-archy" as we know them would exist without these three battles.
Was not War not only the health of "the state" but of a whole,
not-yet-formed culture?

Carrol



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