War a Sociological Necessity 19 



tion known to me, militarist authors take a highly 

 mystical view of their subject, and regard war as a 

 biological or sociological necessity. . . . Our ances- 

 tors have bred pugnacity into our bone and marrow 

 and thousands of years of peace won't breed it out of 

 us. 



Despite the apparent plausibility of the philo- 

 sophy of force, it is founded, as we shall see later, 

 upon a profound misreading of the biological 

 analogy, upon a deep-seated misunderstanding of 

 the facts of human relationships, and upon a gross 

 distortion of Darwin's own theory of social pro- 

 gress. In spite of its immense success, as we shall 

 see in the succeeding chapters, this distorted 

 "social Darwinism" is nevertheless completely 

 false in theory. It contains errors so numerous 

 that it is impossible to treat them all. It is 

 necessary to make a selection and to speak solely 

 of the most important. 



When we discover how gross are the errors of 

 this distorted "social Darwinism" we are compelled 

 to ask with astonishment how they could last so 

 long, not only in popular belief, but even among 

 the men of enlightenment. The only reply is that 

 the favour which the mystical belief which is called 

 " social Darwinism " has enjoyed, shows in a striking 

 fashion how undeveloped is the science of sociology 

 and how formidable is the power of ancient routine 

 nourished by a traditionalist spirit. 



