134 The Special Sociological Errors 



a good thing at the present time. The reply is, 

 first, that if sociology is ever to become a real 

 science, it must follow the truth wherever it may 

 lead; and, second, that the correction of error in 

 any department of human life is always worth 

 while because every error, through its ramifica- 

 tions, distorts social theory in many places. Thus 

 the reasoning in regard to slavery and animism 

 and other transition phases of this nature are all 

 used as buttresses of the apology for war and the 

 philosophy of force. Moreover, in the case of war, 

 the reasoning does not apply only to the past, 

 as in the case of slavery and animism, which have 

 disappeared, but it has an important bearing 

 upon the present. It is worth while to demon- 

 strate that war has always been an evil in order to 

 prevent the formulation of doctrines of the follow- 

 ing character: "Given the state of barbarism 

 in which we live, we have not yet left the period 

 in which war is a good thing." From the logical 

 point of view, of course, such doctrines cannot 

 stand the test of criticism. To say that because 

 we have not yet arrived at the stage at which war 

 is no longer waged, it is necessary that we should 

 continue to wage war, leads directly to contradic- 

 tion. The human race will only enter upon the 

 period in which war will no longer be waged on the 

 day when it is convinced that it is futile to wage 

 war. There will never be a period therefore, during 

 which we shall believe that war is useless, and in 

 which we shall nevertheless believe ourselves 



