Emotions

War cannot proceed without emotionally fragmented selves. Whole selves have no need for war.

Human intelligence has been directed far more effectively to science and technology than to understanding self, society, and their interconnections. There are no controversies about whether atoms exist or human cells or chemical elements. And all those can be defined precisely. What humans learn about the objective world is translated largely into technology. The wonders of refrigerators, furnaces, air-conditioning, airplanes, rockets, nuclear weapons, space probes, cell phones, computers, toothpaste, medicines, and automobiles: All these follow from applying human ingenuity to scientific understanding.

So far, however, moving from physical objectivity to the complexities of how humans live together is fraught with peril. True, there is “social science,” but it would more accurately be called ...