The Paradoxes of War teaches us to understand that war is not only a normal part of human existence, but is arguably one of the most important factors in making us who we are. Through this course, I hope that you will come to appreciate that war is both a natural expression of common human emotions and interactions and a constitutive part of how we cohere as groups. That is, war is paradoxically an expression of our basest animal nature and the exemplar of our most vaunted and valued civilized virtues. You will learn some basic military history and sociology in this course as a lens for the more important purpose of seeing the broader social themes and issues related to war. I want you to both learn about war, but more importantly, use it as way of understanding your everyday social world. So, for example, the discussion of war and gender will serve to start you thinking about how expectations of masculinity are created and our discussion of nationalism will make clear how easy “us-them” dichotomies can be established and (ab)used. I will suggest some readings for you to complement the class and assign some activities through which you will be able to apply the theoretical insights from the course to your observations of everyday life. At the end of the course, you will start to see war everywhere and come to appreciate how much it defines our life.
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Paradoxes of War
Princeton UniversityAbout this Course
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Approx. 14 hours to complete
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Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
17 minutes to complete
Introduction/Welcome
17 minutes to complete
1 video (Total 7 min), 1 reading
1 hour to complete
The Nature of War
1 hour to complete
5 videos (Total 44 min)
1 hour to complete
The Causes of War
1 hour to complete
5 videos (Total 40 min)
1 hour to complete
The Experience of War
1 hour to complete
7 videos (Total 52 min)
Reviews
- 5 stars73.96%
- 4 stars20.21%
- 3 stars3.06%
- 2 stars0.45%
- 1 star2.29%
TOP REVIEWS FROM PARADOXES OF WAR
by WRJul 8, 2022
The course itself was fine, but it won't filter into my completed section though it says 100 percent.
by TTAug 13, 2015
Highly informtative, relevant and has been useful in cross study with other modern state of war studies, such as Terrorism and Counter Terrorism studies.
by JOJun 16, 2020
Enjoyed this very much from start to finish and would highly recommend it from any young military officer.
by PTFeb 23, 2016
A good course and very interesting perspectives. A pity Princeton does not issue certificates.
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