"Do you think this war is about Helen?" asks Calchas, raising the tricky question of public rationalizations and private motives many readers will find troublingly relevant.
"I am loath to speculate what private motives Professor Ellis may have had," Morris began, and then speculated, "but as a fellow communicator, I can understand his urgent desire -- Only connect!
From the outset the Tasaday's true identity had been obscured by private motives, wishful thinking and journalistic labels such as the "stone age" epithet unfortunately used by Nance himself.
Their behavior was described by political scientist Harold Lasswell, who said a society's leadership class consists of those whose "private motives are displaced onto public objects and rationalized in terms of public interest".
Samson sacrifices himself of his own accord, as he tells us, in fulfillment of his own private motives, in fact, and it's only once Milton can supply the act of sacrifice with something like a complete sense of self-determination that finally he can admit it into his poetic canon.
It also differs from other "state action" cases in which the challenged conduct consists of enforcement of state laws or regulations by state officials who are themselves parties in the lawsuit; in such cases, the question typically is whether the private motives which triggered the enforcement of those laws can fairly be attributed to the State.
Given that the pillars of modern America that Williams traces involve not just public laws and policies, but also (as in the case of religious practices, private land development and union activities, for instance) private entities and individuals acting on private motives, the absence of any chapter focused on high technology, hardware, software or medical advances was striking.
I am loath to speculate what private motives Professor Ellis may have had in trying to convince a broadening audience, over the years, that he had served in Vietnam, when in fact he saw the war only on the evening news.
These characters frequently interrupt the narrative -- voicing their version of events, revealing private motives or grudges -- in a way that is reminiscent of Louis de Bernières' "Birds Without Wings".
Indeed, Shchedrin would seem to enjoy shocking the reader by annulling the novel's traditional task, that of the patient exploration, and elucidation, of private motives and reasons as they are played out in relation to a common condition.
