WINTER 2023
Reflections on the Psychological and Psychohistorical Causes of the War in Ukraine and of Wars in General, Ludwig Janus
Abstract: The causes of war lie in the interplay between male instincts of rivalry and defense with traumatically conditioned archaic feelings of existential threat and the resulting desire for destruction and power. The example of the current war in Ukraine is understood by examining the interaction of Putin’s traumatic childhood history with the traumatic history of Russian society. Then, the complex motivational background of warlike behavior in general is explained in eight theses. As a result of the reflections, it is argued that the way to promote a more peaceful society is to improve early childhood socialization conditions.
Keywords: war, traumatization, psychohistory, prenatal psychology.
Ideologies in the Service of Rationales, Seth Allcorn andMichael Diamond
Abstract: In 2021 Unpacking the Supreme Court: The Age of Trump, Law, and Psychohistory (Allcorn & Stein) was published. The article unpacked reliance by the six right-wing justices on originalism and textualism to provide rationales for their decisions. However, these rationales, it was argued in the paper, are compromised by unconscious psychosocial elements that make it a “convenient fiction” that they are a rational and objective approach to making decisions. The recent Dobbs decision and several other controversial decisions in 2022 have led to further reflections on my part, — along with Michael Diamond.
*This article can be read as an addendum to one that appears in *The Journal of Psychohistory, Volume 49/1, “Unpacking the Supreme Court: The Age of Trump, Law, and Psychohistory”, Seth Allcorn and Howard F. Stein
Paleolithic Symbols: Prenatal Psychology of Artistic Origins, Ralph Frenken
ABSTRACT: This article on the connection between prenatal psychology and Paleolithic art is based on Lloyd deMause’ essay “The Fetal Origins of History”.[1] In two books authored by me, I have reconstructed deMause’s prenatal approach, critically appraised it, and applied it to aspects of art history.[2] Prenatal psychology and Paleolithic art have something in common: both fields each require a radical temporal reconsideration.
All images appearing in this article can be seen in greater detail (some in color and some in black and white) on The Journal of Psychohistory website. Go to: https://psychohistory.com/paleolithic/
The Demise of the Bismarck: Was it the Work of Fate or a Fateful Decision?, Bernard Stancati
Abstract: On the morning of 27 May 1941, the HMS Rodney fired the opening salvos of the final act of the Bismarck saga. Some nineteen minutes later at 10:40 A.M.GMT, the Bismarck’s bow disappeared beneath the wave-swept waters. Over the years, a number of “why” questions have been raised concerning Admiral Günther Lütjens, his behavior, actions, and decisions. Arguments have been presented contending that he had made some very foolish decisions that demonstrated a lack of judgment and professionalism bordering on incompetence. A case has also been made that Admiral Lütjens had lost his grip on himself, his command, and the situation. From an historical perspective, there is strong data and evidence to support each example. Nevertheless, by changing one’s perspective is it possible that a different picture might come into focus, suggesting that that there may be more to the story than meets the eye? Therefore, the goal of this investigation was to view the historical data through a different set of lenses with the intent of uncovering something new. The end result was the development of a thesis that centers on the notion that Admiral Lütjens’ actions may have actually been very deliberate, with the ultimate objective being to deliver the pride of the Third Reich into the hands of the Royal Navy.
Keywords: Senior Leadership; Bismack saga; Decision Making; WWII Naval Battles
BOOK REVIEW ESSAY
Imperial Racism, David Lotto
Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire, Caroline Elkins, Alfred A Knopf, New York, NY, 2022 and Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law, James Whitman, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. and Oxford, U.K., 2017.
Harvard history professor Caroline Elkins has written a six-hundred-and-eighty-page book chronicling the history of the British Empire, published in 2022. Dr. Elkins has mastered the truly vast literature on the British Empire, most of which is written from a Western point of view, which ranges from extreme jingo nationalism to some conclusions on the order of, well, a lot of bad things were done and there was violence and exploitation but in the big picture the Empire was more helpful than hurtful to the at one time nine-hundred million non-British subjects, over which the empire ruled. It was the largest empire the world has seen and probably will ever see, as the age of empires in the traditional sense of the Imperial power claiming sovereignty over large areas of the planet, seems to be over.
Dr. Elkins is a meticulous investigator with a knack for finding previously hidden source material, most often documents concerning actions and policies carried out by the British colonial authorities in various corners of the Empire. In the course of her research….
PSYCHOHISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES: POETRY
Earth, from Orbiting Satellite, Howard Stein
Note: The poem is a futuristic nightmare, and is called, “Earth, from Orbiting Satellite.” It is uncompromisingly bleak. The vision offers, though, a vanishing possibility that, as in the final scene of the 1959 movie, On the Beach, “There is still time . . . Brother.”