126 The Special Sociological Errors 



province without another State losing it, since 

 space cannot be created. If we admit for the sake 

 of argument that it is advantageous for the de- 

 spoiler to despoil his own species, it is nevertheless 

 contrary to all logic to affirm that it is also ad- 

 vantageous to the despoiled; but the despoiled 

 should receive attention as well as the despoiler 

 in a general statement. The conquered is just 

 as much of a reality as the conqueror. If Renan 

 had said: "Fidelity to a monarch extends the 

 territory of the conqueror,'' he might have been 

 correct, but when he says, "Fidelity to a monarch 

 extends territory," the statement is untrue. In 

 other words, in order that general reasoning should 

 be logical it must not be one-sided. If we wish 

 to know whether reasoning is correct, we must 

 examine it from all sides. For example, if the 

 general statement is made "it is in the interest of 

 all nations to respect the right of their neighbours," 

 this can be verified immediately by applying it 

 to many nations. For example, if France had al- 

 ways scrupulously respected the rights of Germany 

 and Germany the rights of France, the prosperity 

 of both nations would now be much greater than 

 it is. Therefore in conducting themselves in this 

 manner, scrupulously respecting the rights of their 

 neighbours, they would have been acting in con- 

 formity with their true interests. 



After the errors due to one-sided reasoning 

 come a series of confusions which indicate the 



