The war-function has grasped us so far; but the constructive interests may some day seem no less imperative, and impose on the individual a hardly lighter burden.
Interpretation
War impacts society deeply, yet the importance of constructive endeavors may eventually weigh just as heavily on individuals.
In this quote, William James reflects on the duality of human existenceβhow the destructive forces of war can consume our focus and energy, yet he suggests that the equally important pursuits of constructive interests may also demand significant personal investment. The tension between these two aspects illustrates the complex challenges individuals face in navigating their responsibilities within a society shaped by conflict and the need for positive contributions.
In practice
In a discussion about the responsibilities of citizenship during wartime.
Many persons nowadays seem to think that any conclusion must be very scientific if the arguments in favor of it are derived from twitching of frogs' legs (especially if the frogs are decapitated) and that, on the other hand, any doctrine chiefly vouched for by the feelings of human beings (with heads on their shoulders) must be benighted and superstitious.
The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.
All the higher, more penetrating ideals are revolutionary. They present themselves far less in the guise of effects of past experience than in that of probable causes of future experience, factors to which the environment and the lessons it has so far taught us must learn to bend.
The lunatic's visions of horror are all drawn from the material of daily fact. Our civilization is founded on the shambles, and every individual existence goes out in a lonely spasm of helpless agony.
It is astonishing how many mental operations we can explain when we have once grasped the principles of association
As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and appeals to sympathy or justice, are folly when we are dealing with human crocodiles and boa-constrictors.
Most social acts have to be understood in their setting, and lose meaning if isolated. No error in thinking about social facts is more serious than the failure to see their place and function.
The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead.
A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all.
Much like a subtle spider which doth sit_x000D_ _x000D_ In middle of her web, which spreadeth wide;_x000D_ _x000D_ If aught do touch the utmost thread of it,_x000D_ _x000D_ She feels it instantly on every side.
Needless to say, the business of living interferes with the solitude so needed for any work of the imagination. Here's what Virginia Woolf said in her diary about the sticky issue: "I've shirked two parties, and another Frenchman, and buying a hat, and tea with Hilda Trevelyan, for I really can't combine all this with keeping all my imaginary people going.
Is it my business if somebody wants to burn a flag?...No, it's not...That's called logic and it'll help us all evolve.
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