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rientation

Damocles is a weekly newsletter from the course Inquiry: Peace, War and Human Nature during spring 2003 and spring 2004. The articles, authored by course participants, thoughtfully address a range of themes.

Our newsletter is named for Damocles, Greek courtier to Dionysius the elder, tyrant of Syracuse. Upon hearing that Damocles envied his wealth and power, Dionysius agreed to let Damocles take his place for a day. At first Damocles luxuriated in rich food and servants until he looked up from the banquet table to see a sharp sword dangled by a horse hair above his head.

In the painting by Richard Westall (British, 1765-1836), Dionysius explains to Damocles that he won his power through violence and that the sword symbolizes the precariousness of a king's fortunes.

Course assistant Michael Shiner ably served as the editor of Damocles.

Spring 2003 Issues

February 3, 2003 Edition

Welcome / This is your newsletter / Beyond wars of empire and revolution / Newsletter Title / Damocles: Precariousness of a King’s fortunes / What does Friedman mean by “dare not”? / What is Friedman’s Game? / Causes and Presumptive comments / Causes and How black is the box?

February 10, 2003 Edition

Does Galtung Fail to Consider the Natural World? / Causes and What Is Stress and Why Does it Matter? / Inquiry / Four Phases of Inquiry / Can We Ever Eliminate Structural Violence? / Salomon’s Categories / A Universal Approach to Peace Education: Plausible or Problematic? / No Consensus / The Moral Conscience as Process and Product

February 24, 2003 Edition

Moving past definitions / Instigators and Perpetrators / To What Extent are Instigators Irreplaceable? / John Harris / Pre-Inquiry Inquiries / Understanding Self-Esteem / Evil: Actions or Inner Dispositions? / Concepts & Categories, Instigators of Good

March 3, 2003 Edition

The Conquered, Conquerors, Culture and Civil Peace / Causes and Interdependence in Bhutan / Keepers of the National Narrative / Considering Visions of Peace and Peace Justice and Peace: Mere Caveat? / Understanding Taoism / Four Categories

March 10, 2003 Edition

The Doctrine of Discovery / Taoism and the Art of War / The Importance of Environment, Population Density, and Technology / Causes and Causes of Violence and Solutions for Peace / Germs are Innocent

March 17, 2003 Edition

Buddhism and Peace / Opening the Moral Circle Though Empathy / Between a Rock and a Hard Place / Is This War Hyper-Real? / On the Nature of Morality

March 31, 2003 Edition

Scorpion or Kleptocrat? / Is Saddam a Scorpion? / Wounded Dignity and Genocide / We are all Prisoners of the Globalization of Technology / The Purpose of Music is to Create Silence

April 7, 2003 Edition

Islamic Contributions to Western Civilization / Is the UN an Effective Third Party? / Imagining Solutions / What the World Needs Now is More Eggs

April 14, 2003 Edition

Terrorist or Underdog? / Three Elements of Terrorism / Pettigrew’s Sample is Skewed / Extreme Power Asymmetry and the Missing Ideology of the Masses / Is There Any Incentive to Stop Being a Terrorist?

April 21, 2003 Edition

Torture’s Shadow / Cures and Legal and Moral Aspects of Torture / Torture Warrants Are not The Answer / Causes and Memory and International Conflict

April 28, 2003 Edition

Patriotic war: Proust vs. Tolstoy / To get to know Laderach better / Can We Marry Theory and Practice When Building Peace? / Concepts / Dangerous Comparisons

May 5, 2003 Edition

Is There Any Way to Reconcile Truth and Reconciliation Truthfully? / New Democracies, New Challenges / Einstein and Freud: War and Human Nature / Cures and The Effectiveness of Peace Reparations and the TRC

Spring 2004 Issues

Note: The 2004 issues appear as PDF files and require Adobe Acrobat Reader. If this is installed, you should be able to click them up in your browser as well as download them if you prefer.

February 9, 2004 Edition

A Crisis of Truth / Irony of War / Gay Marriage / Reflections on Communal Violence in India / Damocles: Precariousness of a King’s fortune

February 23, 2004 Edition

Complexities of Evil / Terrorism and Hermeneutics: Can we ever fully understand the mind of a terrorist? / Responding to Islamic Terrorism – A Critique / Reflection on Understanding Evil

March 1, 2004 Edition

Reality Shift / Mythic Reality Applies to Peacetime Too / A New Perspective on the Wicked Witch: Maybe not so wicked? / Adulterers and Divorcees too?

March 8, 2004 Edition

Economics of Racism / Elusive Peace in Lebanon / On the Border or On the Line / WMD Terrorist Threat

March 15, 2004 Edition

Beyond Good and Evil: A Commentary on a Panel at the Recent CIES Conference / The Essence of Character and Imperialism / Sub-National Actors are Part of the War Puzzle Too / No n-Violence and Religion: The example of Gandhi and his method of fasting / Experiencing Terrorism in a Foreign Land

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