?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=The+Cognitive+Geometry+of+War&rft.creator=Smith%2C+B.&rft.subject=Cognitive+Psychology&rft.subject=Metaphysics&rft.description=When+national+borders+in+the+modern+sense+first+began+to+be+established+in+early+modern+Europe%2C+non-contiguous+and+perforated+nations+were+a+commonplace.+According+to+the+conception+of+the+shapes+of+nations+that+is+currently+preferred%2C+however%2C+nations+must+conform+to+the+topological+model+of+(approximate)+circularity%3B+their+borders+must+guarantee+contiguity+and+simple+connectedness%2C+and+such+borders+must+as+far+as+possible+conform+to+existing+topographical+features+on+the+ground.+The+striving+to+conform+to+this+model+can+be+seen+at+work+today+in+Quebec+and+in+Ireland%2C+it+underpins+much+of+the+rhetoric+of+the+P.L.O.%2C+and+was+certainly+to+some+degree+involved+as+a+motivating+factor+in+much+of+the+ethnic+cleansing+which+took+place+in+Bosnia+in+recent+times.+The+question+to+be+addressed+in+what+follows+is%3A+to+what+extent+could+inter-group+disputes+be+more+peacefully+resolved%2C+and+ethnic+cleansing+avoided%2C+if+political+leaders%2C+diplomats+and+others+involved+in+the+resolution+of+such+disputes+could+be+brought+to+accept+weaker+geometrical+constraints+on+the+shapes+of+nations%3F+A+number+of+associated+questions+then+present+themselves%3A+What+sorts+of+administrative+and+logistical+problems+have+been+encountered+by+existing+non+contiguous+nations+(such+as+the+United+States)+and+by+perforated+nations+(such+as+Italy%2C+which+circumcludes+the+Vatican+and+the+Republic+of+San+Marino%2C+and+South+Africa%2C+which+circumcludes+Lesotho)%2C+and+by+other+nations+deviating+in+different+ways+from+the+received+geometrical+ideal%3F+To+what+degree+is+the+desire+for+continuity+and+simple+connectedness+a+rational+desire+(based+for+example+on+well-founded+military+or+economic+considerations)%2C+and+to+what+degree+does+it+rest+on+species+of+political+rhetoric+which+might+be+countered+by%2C+for+example%2C+philosophical+argument%3F+These+and+a+series+of+related+questions+will+form+the+subject-matter+of+the+present+essay&rft.publisher=Vienna%3A+Holder-Pichler-Tempsky&rft.contributor=Koller%2C+P.&rft.contributor=Puhl%2C+K.&rft.date=1997&rft.type=Book+Chapter&rft.type=NonPeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F304%2F1%2Fbosnia.html&rft.identifier=++Smith%2C+B.++(1997)+The+Cognitive+Geometry+of+War.++%5BBook+Chapter%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F304%2F