INSTINCTIVE ELEMENT IN HUMAN SOCIETY 265 



psychological conception of instinct in sociology are invalid and that, if 

 one is to study human society psychologically, one must begin with the 

 native elements found in the individuals which compose that society, 

 that is, with the instincts, and then show the part which they play in 

 social organization. 



A subconscious objection in the minds of many students to the use 

 of the conception of instinct in the social sciences is doubtless the wrong 

 use to which the conception has been put in the past. Ever since Aris- 

 totle, instinct has been a sort of a " catch-all " into which were thrown 

 all the problems that were in any way baffling. We have had theories 

 of social organization which traced practically everything in human 

 society to a supposed " social instinct " in man. It has been claimed 

 that individuals entered into social relations through this instinct or 

 through that. The state has been explained through a specific political 

 instinct in man; religion has been explained through a religious in- 

 stinct in man; economic phenomena have been traced to the workings 

 of a specific economic instinct, and so on. No doubt this older way of 

 explaining man's social life through various specific instincts was un- 

 scientific and the reaction against such crude methods is fully justified. 

 Even Aristotle's instinctive theory of society, as developed, at least, by 

 some of his followers, is open to severe criticism because, as we shall 

 show, man enters into social relations, not through any one or even a 

 few, but through practically all of his instincts. 



Crude recognition of the instinctive element by recent thinkers 

 along social lines has not helped matters. The " properties of human 

 nature," such as the aversion to labor, the love of gain and the like, 

 which the earlier and some of the later economists have made use of, 

 are undoubtedly very far from scientific conceptions. So also the use 

 which certain sociologists have made of the term " unconscious," by 

 which they seem to mean very largely the instinctive. Again the use of 

 such a vague term as " desires," to which Ward traces all social occur- 

 rences, is open to the same objection; for some sociologists use the 

 expression "the desires," meaning the native impulses; others mean by 

 it the feelings. 



Illustrations of vague and unscientific uses of psychological terms 

 and conceptions in the social sciences might be multiplied indefinitely. 

 The few that have been pointed out are, however, perhaps sufficient to 

 emphasize that all such vague and crude uses of psychological concepts 

 must be replaced in the social sciences by usage which is in accord with 

 the best development in modern scientific psychology. When this is 

 done with the conception of instinct it will be found to accord entirely 

 with the requirements of positive science, and to be especially in har- 

 mony with the soundest biological views of life. 



Misunderstandings, then, of the psychological usage of the term 

 instinct and the resulting misconceptions of what instinct really is, are 



