Sorry you don't like my approach, but I feel strongly that if we don't try to figure out why bad things happen--including what motivates people to do bad things--the world will remain mired in pointless conflict.
Sorry you don't like my approach, but I feel strongly that if we don't try to figure out why bad things happen--including what motivates people to do bad things--the world will remain mired in pointless conflict.
I suggest checking out what Peace Literacy Institute is doing then. The motive work in general has been done over and over many times in so many words. The details will vary but the overarching motive(s) is the same. I feel we are rehashing minutiae while the world overcooks. It's too late for this conflict and we need to be preventing the one 20 years on. If we get stuck inside one guy's head it will be too late. What are we doing right now to make apocalypse aversion possible?
I agree with you that "getting stuck inside one guy's head" would be a waste of time. Much ink has been spilled in the ~70 years after Hitler's death about his state of mind leading up to and during his holding power in Germany, most of which probably delivered very little or no insight into how WWII could have been prevented and only a little into how to prevent future wars on that scale.
However, Putin is still alive, and to understand his current actions and anticipate or influence future ones, it is extremely useful to understand better what drives or afflicts him. That's not to elevate him to an extent that causes a loss of sight of the wider causes of this conflict, but it's an important part of finding out what can be done to end this conflict.
Sorry you don't like my approach, but I feel strongly that if we don't try to figure out why bad things happen--including what motivates people to do bad things--the world will remain mired in pointless conflict.
I suggest checking out what Peace Literacy Institute is doing then. The motive work in general has been done over and over many times in so many words. The details will vary but the overarching motive(s) is the same. I feel we are rehashing minutiae while the world overcooks. It's too late for this conflict and we need to be preventing the one 20 years on. If we get stuck inside one guy's head it will be too late. What are we doing right now to make apocalypse aversion possible?
I agree with you that "getting stuck inside one guy's head" would be a waste of time. Much ink has been spilled in the ~70 years after Hitler's death about his state of mind leading up to and during his holding power in Germany, most of which probably delivered very little or no insight into how WWII could have been prevented and only a little into how to prevent future wars on that scale.
However, Putin is still alive, and to understand his current actions and anticipate or influence future ones, it is extremely useful to understand better what drives or afflicts him. That's not to elevate him to an extent that causes a loss of sight of the wider causes of this conflict, but it's an important part of finding out what can be done to end this conflict.