68 The Biological Errors 



nent fashion, but at least of the same species. 

 But as soon as we approach the concrete reahty 

 we see that tigers do not eat each other and that 

 the relations between individuals of the same 

 species are not the same as those between indi- 

 viduals of different species. Since animals of the 

 same species do not massacre each other, Spencer 

 has no justification from the biological analogy 

 ^ for affirming that human progress would have 

 been impossible if men had not exterminated 

 each other. 



A closer analogy would be to compare the rela- 

 tions between men with the relations between in- 

 dividuals of a species capable of association such 

 as bees, apes, beavers, monkeys, etc. But when 

 we come to the real analogy the scene changes 

 entirely. Not only do we see that the individuals 

 of species capable of association do not devour each 

 other, but on the contrary they unite for common 

 work ; they exchange services, and as a result they 

 create the group of a higher degree of evolution 

 which is called a society. 



2. The second great error of Spencer is to com- 

 pare the struggle between individuals of the same 

 species or of different species, not with that of 

 human individuals but with human societies. 

 The fight between two pugilists of different races 

 might be likened in some manner to a combat 

 .between a lion and a bull, but the war between the 

 English and Zulus, between the Russians and the 

 Japanese, cannot be likened in any definite manner 



