War a Pre-Social Fact 93 



actions which refine the intelligence, therefore 

 collective homicide refines intelligence and conse- 

 quently makes progress. This neglects the princi- 

 pal consideration, that everything depends on what 

 the conqueror does after the victory. If he estab- 

 lishes a better set of institutions, it is these insti- 

 tutions, and not the battle, which cause progress. 

 Moreover if the sum of intellectual effort employed 

 in preparing for war had been employed directly 

 to better the condition of the human race, this 

 betterment would have proceded more rapidly. 

 The straight line does not cease to be the shortest 

 path between two points when we enter into the 

 domain of sociology. 



The object of struggle is to better one's condi- 

 tion. Since the condition of the individual in 

 society can only be bettered by perfecting institu- 

 tions the struggle in the sociological domain can 

 only take place by inter-psychic processes. Homi- 

 cide, not being an inter-psychic relation, cannot 

 enter into the category of social facts. Homicide 

 is a pre-social fact. It is the natural and inevit- 

 able form of the struggle between individuals who 

 have not yet formed an association or who are 

 prevented by their organic constitution from 

 associating (as in the case of the wolf and the 

 sheep). From another point of view individual 

 and collective homicide are both anti-social. They 

 arrest the course of development of society, and 

 the interrupted progress must be taken up after 

 the battle. The actual setback to all social 



