“The War of the Spirit”: A History of Scientific Ideas or Marginal Emotions?

This review examines a monograph by Polish historian Maciej Górny that examines the phenomenon of the “war of the spirit” in scientific discourse between 1912 and 1923. The “war of the spirit” is broadly understood as a reflection on national character in the context of the actualization of a clear distinction between one’s community and that of the alien enemy, and narrowly as “an irregular cycle of outbreaks of nationalism in science, each inextricably linked to the horror of war, defeat and violence”. The characters of the book are European intellectuals and the psychological, anthropological, and spiritual characteristics of warring nations, and the role of such sciences as geography, anthropology, psychology, and psychiatry in the “war of the spirit” is revealed. The Polish researcher points out the complex relationship between intellectual concepts and propaganda settings, believing that the phenomenon of “war of the spirit” is broader than the phenomenon of military-patriotic propaganda. The author of the review, while appreciating the work of his Polish colleague, believes that the study conducted within the methodological framework of intellectual history could have benefited if the methodology of the history of emotions had been used. The review points out that many of the marginalized concepts and stereotypes discussed in the book were typical for all strata of the warring societies, were based on archetypal images, and were fueled by emotions running high during the war. The author calls the “war of spirit” a natural state of a society for development of the main characterological images of “their own” and “alien” in the conditions of military and political conflict. Author points out that the concept of an ideological “war of the spirit” does not fully correspond to its content and considers it more accurate to speak of an emotional “war of patriotism”.