Dr. Koenigsberg's description of war as a submission of one's subjectivity to the objectivity of some higher authority is fascinating. I am also fascinated by his tracing of this concept back to Freud's death wish. In the months to come, I hope to look more deeply into this, since the concept of terror through the subordination of self to a higher power, hence, glorification in the hereafter, has a great deal to do with the acts of terror we are currently experiencing. I uploaded this now because I thought some of you might be interested enough to not want to wait for my reading of related materials. Be sure to keep us informed, and send the references you are using, so I can post them. jeanne December 17, 2001.

On Monday, December 17, 2001, Dr. Richard Koenigsberg, Ph.D. wrote:

Subject: War as Submission

"Mark Bracher writes about the symbolic order identification that culture demands suggesting it is prepared for by a "PRIMARY IDENTIFICATION THAT STRUCTURES THE SUBJECT AS A RIVAL WITH HIMSELF." Robert Samuels locates the "death drive" in the symbolic structures of culture.

"Hitler said, "You are nothing, your nation is everything." Submission to the nation-state, self-negation was advocated in the name of identification with the omnipotent object (the "great other"). Castration by the symbolic order represents the fulfillment of a wish. We abandon the self in order to PARTAKE OF THE OMNIPOTENCE OF THE OBJECT.

"Bin Laden said, "God ordered us to carry out jihad." He stated that acquiring weapons of mass destruction was an "obligation" or "duty," that it would be a "sin" for Muslims not to possess these weapons. God in his holy book, according to Bin Ladin, said that "fighting is prescribed for you even if ye dislike it."

"Human violence is not "biological aggression." Rather, it represents a form of submission to the object. One undertakes political violence in the name of the omnipotent object with which one identifies. This object works on and through the self. It is a rival with the self. Ostensibly this rival CANNOT BE RESISTED. The symbolic order requires the acting out of self-destructive fantasies.

"When Hitler declared war in 1939, he asked every German to be willing to "do at any moment" what he was willing to do: to be ready to "lay down his life for his people and for his country." He did not say he was going to conquer the world. He was asking others to join him in a sacrificial ritual--collective submission to the beloved object, Germany.

"The "infidel" symbolizes one who does not believe in the value of sacrifical submission. War means "death to the non-believers." Hitler in his declaration of war said that if anyone thought he could "evade this national duty directly or indirectly" (to lay down his life for people and country), he would "perish."

"Jews represented for Hitler those who DID NOT BELIEVE IN THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GERMANY AND WOULD NOT SUBMIT TO HER. If Germans were obligated to die for their nation, why were Jews not obligated to do so as well?

"Genocide was a critique, revelation of the meaning of war.

With regards,

Richard Koenigsberg, Ph. D.
Library of Social Science

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