This thesis attempts to investigate the reasons for going to war and committing warlike actions from a human perspective. It endeavours to answer the question why atrocities are possible even by...Show moreThis thesis attempts to investigate the reasons for going to war and committing warlike actions from a human perspective. It endeavours to answer the question why atrocities are possible even by individuals with little or no exposure to violence. The French philosopher Gabriel Marcel wrote on a theory named 'the spirit of abstraction' in which he elaborated upon the manner in which abstraction causes killing to be justified in the mind of the individual. This theory is applied to the Napoleonic war diary 'The Recollections of Rifleman Harris' and investigates the notion's application to the Napoleonic Wars from a more general perspective. It follows the story of Rifleman Harris and attempts to explain how he set out as a farm boy and returned a man that had waged war with an utterly different perspective of the world. It also aims to raise suggestions about whether Marcel's theory can be applied to "modern" times and that abstraction is responsible for so much of the cruelty and malice present in society.Show less