Book Chapter Review - Waltz; Man the State and War (Book Review Sample)

Book Chapter Summary - Man the state and war, Chapter II- THE FIRST IMAGE; International Conflict and Human Behaviour. Chapter II- THE FIRST IMAGE; International Conflict and Human Behaviour. Introduction The book Man, the State and War (Waltz, 2001) 1 contains a critical examination of assumptions made by dominant thinkers 2 on the nature and causes of war. Waltz addresses the causes of war, but the focus is on where one can find the most important causes. The examination of the assumptions comprises three sources of conflict that Waltz refers to as “images”: human behavior (man), the internal structure of states (state) and international anarchy (state system). Primarily, Waltz aims to assess which image best explains war. For each image, a variety of perspectives and statements is discussed and subsequently critically evaluated. The book also features a philosophical approach: Waltz focuses on the conceptual and logical aspects of the arguments that support every position. The book Man, the State and War (Waltz, 2001) 1 contains a critical examination of assumptions made by dominant thinkers 2 on the nature and causes of war. Waltz addresses the causes of war, but the focus is on where one can find the most important causes. The examination of the assumptions comprises three sources of conflict that Waltz refers to as “images”: human behavior (man), the internal structure of states (state) and international anarchy (state system). Primarily, Waltz aims to assess which image best explains war. For each image, a variety of perspectives and statements is discussed and subsequently critically evaluated. The book also features a philosophical approach: Waltz focuses on the conceptual and logical aspects of the arguments that support every position. The book Man, the State and War (Waltz, 2001) 1 contains a critical examination of assumptions made by dominant thinkers 2 on the nature and causes of war. Waltz addresses the causes of war, but the focus is on where one can find the most important causes. The examination of the assumptions comprises three sources of conflict that Waltz refers to as “images”: human behavior (man), the internal structure of states (state) and international anarchy (state system). Primarily, Waltz aims to assess which image best explains war. For each image, a variety of perspectives and statements is discussed and subsequently critically evaluated. The book also features a philosophical approach: Waltz focuses on the conceptual and logical aspects of the arguments that support every position. The book Man, the State and War (Waltz, 2001) 1 contains a critical examination of assumptions made by dominant thinkers 2 on the nature and causes of war. Waltz addresses the causes of war, but the focus is on where one can find the most important causes. The examination of the assumptions comprises three sources of conflict that Waltz refers to as “images”: human behavior (man), the internal structure of states (state) and international anarchy (state system). Primarily, Waltz aims to assess which image best explains war. For each image, a variety of perspectives and statements is discussed and subsequently critically evaluated. The book also features a philosophical approach: Waltz focuses on the conceptual and logical aspects of the arguments that support every position. The book Man, the State and War (Waltz, 2001) 1 contains a critical examination of assumptions made by dominant thinkers 2 on the nature and causes of war. Waltz addresses the causes of war, but the focus is on where one can find the most important causes. The examination of the assumptions comprises three sources of conflict that Waltz refers to as “images”: human behavior (man), the internal structure of states (state) and international anarchy (state system). Primarily, Waltz aims to assess which image best explains war. For each image, a variety of perspectives and statements is discussed and subsequently critically evaluated. The book also features a philosophical approach: Waltz focuses on the conceptual and logical aspects of the arguments that support every position. The book Man, the State and War (Waltz, 2001) 1 contains a critical examination of assumptions made by dominant thinkers 2 on the nature and causes of war. Waltz addresses the causes of war, but the focus is on where one can find the most important causes. The examination of the assumptions comprises three sources of conflict that Waltz refers to as “images”: human behavior (man), the internal structure of states (state) and international anarchy (state system). Primarily, Waltz aims to assess which image best explains war. For each image, a variety of perspectives and statements is discussed and subsequently critically evaluated. The book also features a philosophical approach: Waltz focuses on the conceptual and logical aspects of the arguments that support every position. The book Man, the State and War (Waltz, 2001) 1 contains a critical examination of assumptions made by dominant thinkers 2 on the nature and causes of war. Waltz addresses the causes of war, but the focus is on where one can find the most important causes. The examination of the assumptions comprises three sources of conflict that Waltz refers to as “images”: human behavior (man), the internal structure of states (state) and international anarchy (state system). Primarily, Waltz aims to assess which image best explains war. For each image, a variety of perspectives and statements is discussed and subsequently critically evaluated. The book also features a philosophical approach: Waltz focuses on the conceptual and logical aspects of the arguments that support every position. The book Man, the State and War (Waltz, 2001) 1 contains a critical examination of assumptions made by dominant thinkers 2 on the nature and causes of war. Waltz addresses the causes of war, but the focus is on where one can find the most important causes. The examination of the assumptions comprises three sources of conflict that Waltz refers to as “images”: human behavior (man), the internal structure of states (state) and international anarchy (state system). Primarily, Waltz aims to assess which image best explains war. For each image, a variety of perspectives and statements is discussed and subsequently critically evaluated. The book also features a philosophical approach: Waltz focuses on the conceptual and logical aspects of the arguments that support every position. The book Man, the State and War (Waltz, 2001) 1 contains a critical examination of assumptions made by dominant thinkers 2 on the nature and causes of war. Waltz addresses the causes of war, but the focus is on where one can find the most important causes. The examination of the assumptions comprises three sources of conflict that Waltz refers to as “images”: human behavior (man), the internal structure of states (state) and international anarchy (state system). Primarily, Waltz aims to assess which image best explains war. For each image, a variety of perspectives and statements is discussed and subsequently critically evaluated. The book also features a philosophical approach: Waltz focuses on the conceptual and logical aspects of the arguments that support every position. The book Man, the State and War (Waltz, 2001) contains a critical examination of assumptions made by dominant thinkers on the nature and causes of war. Waltz addresses the causes of war, but the focus is on where one can find the most important causes. The examination of the assumptions comprises three sources of conflict that Waltz refers to as human behavior (man), the internal structure of states (state) and international anarchy (state system). Primarily, Waltz aims to assess which image best explains war. For each image, a variety of perspectives and statements is discussed and subsequently critically evaluated. Waltz focuses on the conceptual and logical aspects of the arguments that support every position. First, it is argued that the essential causes of war lie within the nature and behavior of man. Waltz discusses the different views regarding this issue and makes a division between optimists and pessimists. The pessimists state that human nature is fixed and war is therefore an inevitable epiphenomenon of human society. Optimists, however, are convinced that human beings have the ability to overcome their natural defects. Waltz agrees with Spinoza that human beings behave differently under different circumstances, wherefore he suggests that the internal structure of the state should also be taken into consideration in order to gain a better understanding of the nature of war. He seeks to find these causes to answer two important questions: 1 Are there ways of decreasing the incidence of war or in other terms, of increasing the chances for peace? 2 Can we have peace more often in the future than in the past? Waltz seeks to answer the pressing questions of the present analyzing past political philosophers and competing theories, including those of St. Augustine, Machiavelli, Spinoza, and Kant. Waltz begins by asking, can man’s explanations of the origins of evil help explain the origins of war? (i.e., is war simply “mass malevolence” and therefore explained by in the same way as individual evil?). According to St. Augustine and Milton, the answer is yes: “men must look to man in order to under...