120 The Special Sociological Errors 



because it is an example of the class of errors in 

 logic. Purely external analogies can be of no 

 service in building the structure of a positive 

 science. It is necessary to compare facts which 

 are comparable. 



The largest, and practically the most important 

 group of errors consists of those due to one-sided 

 reasoning, or what has been called the unilateral 

 aberration. This error is caused by the failure 

 to realize that in all matters connected with the 

 relations between men the action of one party 

 makes only one half of the operation, and that 

 we must necessarily misunderstand the operation 

 as a whole unless we think of the action of the 

 two parties together: as that defence necessarily 

 implies attack; that victory necessarily implies 

 defeat, and that there can be no conqueror without 

 a corresponding conquered. 



The hypnotism of the defensive is one of the 

 most common forms of one-sided reasoning. 

 When an appeal is made for recruits they are 

 always enlisted "to defend their country," but 

 nothing is ever said about attacking the other 

 man's country. In the same way it is the business 

 of the soldier to sacrifice his life in the defence of 

 his nation. Nothing is said about what must con- 

 stitute his real work if he is successful, the killing 

 of other men who are similarly engaged in defence. 

 The official documents published by all the coun- 

 tries involved at the beginning of the great war 

 furnish striking examples of the unilateral aberra- 



