Jonathans Swifts Real Argument :: essays research papers

Jonathan's Swift's Real Argument      God just knows from whence came Freud's hypothesis of penis envy, however one of his progressively agreeable speculations, that of "reverse psychology", may have its foundations in the parody of the late Jonathan Swift. I don't intend to declare that Swift utilized or then again was at all acquainted with that style of influence, however his style is unquestionably practically identical. Switch brain science (as I decided to characterize it for this paper) implies taking contentions that assert an issue to such an extent, that they appear to be preposterous, and in this manner contradict the issue. Quick, in "An Argument [Against] The Annulling Of Christianity In England" goes to bat for Christianity, and dependent on the preposterousness of his protection, he accidentally taints it. He sets up a invented society in which Christianity is ignored and hated, yet ostensible Christianity remains. The writer writes to guard this ostensible Christianity from nullification. The contentions that the creator utilizes, which are regular information in his time, whenever applied to Christianity in Swift's time would be very hazardous charges. Surely, the reasons that Swift gives for the protection of the imaginary Christianity are actually what he sees amiss with the Christianity rehearsed in his time. By applying Swift's sarcastic contention for the conservation of this invented religion to that which was right now drilled, Swift attests that their Christianity served ulterior intentions, both for the administration and for the individuals.      If we are to demonstrate that the administration was utilizing religion for childish purposes, we should be certain that it was not filling its planned need, the confirmation of the ethical sacredness of its arrangements. This is very clear in the creator's remark that if genuine Christianity was resuscitated, it would be, "destroy at one blow all the mind and a large portion of the learning of the realm; to break the whole edge and constitution of things[.]" This demonstrates without question that Christianity has no impact on the administration's present approaches. It even appears as though the administration set up Church isn't totally established in Christianity, as the creator feebly proposes that, "[A]bolishing Christianity may maybe bring the congregation into danger." The ways that the legislature really utilizes Christianity are totally childish. One such design is the encouragement of partners, "among whom, for we should know, it might be the custom of the nation to accept a God." He later proceeds to recommend the annulment of Christianity in harmony time so as to keep away from the loss of partners. It additionally appears as though the government utilizes Christianity to mollify the plebeians. Albeit Swift mockingly contributes, "Not that I [agree] with the individuals who hold religion to

Breach as a Motif in China Mieville's The City and The City Essay

Penetrate as a Motif in China Mieville's The City and The City - Essay Example Mieville summons that penetrate at different focuses in the novel as a theme that speaks to the all-unavoidable condition of the East European conditions of the Soviet period. These penetrates are examined by a body that itself is by all accounts a theme that joins in itself the impacts of the considerable number of themes of breaks that administer the lives of the individuals in the novel’s anecdotal urban areas of Beszel and Ul Qoma. The excursion of Tayodu Borlu, the hero of the novel and the analyst who looks to understand the riddle of a homicide that serves to outline the story and give it its push, is one that uncovers numerous parts of advanced life. These range from the absence of opportunity that is experienced by individuals in country states to the spot of man in a universe that might possibly offer clarifications. This universe, be that as it may, keeps on rebuffing its occupants for offenses the reasons for which they may not know. The absence of information that is shared by the individuals of Beszel and Ul Qoma is the thing that joins them and gives them a typical fate. The thought of break alludes to a comprehension of this solidarity in numbness. In this sense, it appears as if the novel focuses to numbness as the best weapon that is utilized by the cutting edge state to communicate its capacity and exercise its power over its kin. To put them in a condition of complete obliviousness with regards to their own condition, joined by a dread of the break makes Mieville’s work more like a work like V for Vendetta instead of something like The Matrix. Like both these works, the individuals in the two urban areas experience the ill effects of the way that their reality is a mind boggling web of falsehoods that is spun by an overall system of power. This authority is epitomized by the Breach that can cause an individual to evaporate from seeing others. With regards to individuals who decide to ignore a few parts of life, the idea of a di sappeared individual may allude to someone who is just neglected, much similarly that Ralph Ellison’s hero is, in the book, The Invisible Man. The explanations behind the negligibility of both are similarly foolish and hard to comprehend. This is perhaps the best quality of Mieville’s epic the way that it can attract inferences to numerous other significant works of fiction that discussion of harsh systems. His capacity to associate his inferior point of view to different forms of it makes The City and the City a perplexing work of fiction. The break speaks to an absence of solidarity. While investigating the tyrant systems that were a piece of East European country states during the Cold War Era, Mieville strikes at the very heart of the way of thinking of these countries the solidarity of their kin in an awkward society. He focuses to the disunity that states looked to execute during this period and the impacts that it had on individuals who had up to this point live d in networks that traded thoughts and convictions in a more liberated society. The absence of opportunity that Borlu has in exploring the case owes itself to the absence of solidarity between the individuals of the two urban areas. This can be found in the mentalities that are communicated at first by his partner in Ul Qom, who is cold and stooping towards him. There are, in this way, numerous structures that the state makes to propagate its own

On Being a n00b at MIT

On Being a n00b at MIT You may have heard people say, “I’m not _______ enough to go to MIT.” You may have even uttered a version of it yourself. For me â€" in high school â€" I was definitely of the “I’m not technology-oriented enough to go to MIT” mind-set. And last time I checked, this was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, not the Massachusetts Institute of Totally-Fun-Times (although I’m working on getting that changed). Let me preface this story even more by saying that there are many ways in which I am a “typical MIT student” (if such a thing even exists!) â€" for starters, check out the shirt I’m wearing today: (After taking 8.02 last year, I FINALLY understand what it all means!) But in many ways, I’m really not your “typical MIT student” (if such a thing even exists!) (actually, can I just shorten this phrase to NYTMITSISATEE?), because, well, I’m a n00b.* As in, I-can’t-solve-a-Rubik’s-cube n00b. As in, I’m-bad-at-arithmetic n00b. As in, the-only-computer-games-I’ve-played-are-Frogger-and-Oregon-Trail n00b. As in, the-only-programming-experience-I-have-is-using-the-“Store”-function-on-my-TI-83 n00b. I have my special little place at MIT and I’m definitely not the only computer n00b here, but as a course 20 (biological engineering for those who just tuned in) kid, I have to take this *one certain class* to fulfill my major requirement… 6.00, or Introduction to Computer Science and Programming. That’s right, folks, in addition to English and Latin, I’m adding a third language to my database this semester (and by database, I mean my brain) â€" PYTHON. As you can probably imagine, I was terrified of starting this class. Turns out, this is shaping up to be my favorite class of the semester. Why? 1. I have an awesome professor. And by awesome, I don’t mean just “Oh, he’s so funny” or “Oh, he’s so adorable” (although, Professor Guttag â€" if you’re reading this, I DO think you are funny and adorable! Don’t be too creeped out if I try to hug you at the end of the semester). This guy’s lectures are stream-lined, organized and engaging. Check out the Open Course Ware site for the class. He has designed this class to teach n00bs like me how to program.** 2. Turns out programming is a lot like cooking, which I am a fan of. Writing good code is very much like writing a good recipe: you have to list your ingredients (defining input and state variables) and write directions that are sequentially executed (write your commands). Sometimes you get directions like “Add flour until the mixture cannot hold anymore” (iterations) and sometimes you get little pictures throughout your recipe to check to make sure you’re doing the right thing (using print commands to debug). And at the end of the day, you can have your code and eat it, too. (Wait, that came out wrong…but I thought the cake was a lie…?) 3. There is nothing more satisfying (besides maybe a scoop of Toscaninis ice cream) than to run code and have it work. These p-sets get downright mean from what I’ve heard, but if/when they work, it is SO freaking gratifying. 4. I’m taking the class with this guy: (I call this one, Proof That The Admissions Staff Is Creeped Out By Me.) Look familiar? It’s Chris Peterson! He’s auditing 6.00, but I think we all know that he just signed up for it so he could watch me draw things during class: In short, don’t be scared away by what MIT/MIT students appear to be. It’s nice here. Most of the time. * (Internet slang, pejorative) A beginner, someone lacking skill, or someone who uses beginner tactics. * Okay, in about a week, I forsee myself calling this class heartless and cold, throwing inexperienced students like me to fend for themselves in the scary world of the Python shell. But so far, I love this class.

Euthanasi A Controversial Issue Around The World - 1461 Words

Since euthanasia first appeared in the nineteenth century, it has become a controversial issue around the world. Euthanasia, the â€Å"mercy killing†, relieve those who are suffering from disease or when they are on terminal stage by ending the life of a person intentionally (â€Å"Euthanasia†). In some countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium have legalized euthanasia under certain circumstances. However, active euthanasia is not yet legal in China and it seems to be against traditional Chinese concepts of morality. Nonetheless, with social progress and development in China, people not only focus on high living standard but also the want of leaving in peace. Samantha Pang has written that, in China, the awareness of both birth and death have been arise, † [w]hile the government promotes superior quality of birth and quality of life, voices in support of quality of dying are also emerging† (80). In some circumstances, the death can be positive. For ins tance, if someone were suffering from a terminal illness, assisted death could be the best action. Therefore, active euthanasia should be legal in China because people should have the right to decide their death, and euthanasia can relieve suffering for both patients and their families as well as reduce family burden and it can be beneficial for the social economy. Firstly, it is our right as human beings to live or to die. The right to privacy and freedom of belief includes the right of choice and in some cases this may also

Human Nature The Double Character of Dr. Jekyll Essay

Naturally, it is human nature to yearn for some sort of evil. Sinning is common on a daily basis. Kids lean towards destruction. Countless people have the urge to gamble at casinos. Human beings are lustful creatures and have sexual notions constantly in their minds. Evil is not something that can be avoided. For those who appear perfect, their evil is well hidden. Thus, ...humanity is...synonymous with the struggle of good and evil (Abbey, et al. 328). Robert Louis Stevensons The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde centers on the dual nature of the human personality through the good and evil facets of Dr. Jekylls character. Victorian morals are significant in the establishment of duality due to the moral conflict†¦show more content†¦The division of good and evil in London mirrors the division between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Imagery plays a key role in the exploration of Dr. Jekylls double character. Stevensons use of imagery intensifies the plot and its relationship between good and evil (Rollyson 1863-1864). For example, Hyde is described as apelike and like a monkey while Dr. Jekyll is portrayed as handsome and elegant with proper stature (25-26, 38). This example indicates a reverse evolutionary process and confirms Jekylls disastrous attempt to interfere with the order of nature (Page 763). In general, Hyde is illustrated as animalistic, ugly, and deformed mainly to conjure an evil opinion of this character. However, the physical description may be more than simply symbolic. During the Victorian era, many believed in physiognomy, which was the belief that one could judge a criminal from his or her physical appearance. Hyde is depicted as a vampire who feeds on the very life of his victims (Abbey, et al. 327). ...[Hyde was] drinking pleasure with bestial avidity from any degree of torture to another, relentless like a man of stone (33). This vampire image suggests the way in which indulgence of evil eats away mans capacity for goodness. Lastly, Stevenson chose ideal names to suit and describe the personalities or actions of his characters. Just as Hyde hides in Jekyll, Je kyll hides in Jekyll. In French, Je means I and kyll probablyShow MoreRelatedThe Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde1052 Words   |  5 PagesStevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Apart from being an exceptional Gothic work, Stevenson’s novella is an excellent critique of the hypocrisy that dominated the Victorian era. In his novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson uses the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to expose the double standards and moral pretensions that governed Victorian society. Dr. Jekyll, the protagonist in Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is the ultimateRead MoreDuality Of Human Nature949 Words   |  4 PagesOne of the most predominant themes in literature is the duality of human nature. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, dualism is a view of human beings as constituted of two irreducible elements. Many pieces of literature concentrate on how every human possesses an animalistic and barbarous nature. In the novel The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, and the short story William Wilson by Edgar Allan Poe, the ideaRead MoreLiterary Analysis of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde† by Robert Louis Stevenson1530 Words   |  7 PagesThe city of London proved to be the sole dominant location in the 1800’s during the Victorian era in this novel. As the story unfolds in the classic literature novel, â€Å"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde† written by Robert Louis Stevenson, the magnificent city of London becomes a darker and mysterious location. The powerful city of London embodied the freedom and solitude required for the antagonist of the story, Mr. Hyde to hide his wicked behavior from the society as a whole. AccordingRead MoreJekyll And Hyde Character Analysis708 Words   |  3 Pagespotions. Dr. Jekyll tried several things to stop the transformations, but nothing worked. He knew he would transform into Hyde permanently. The letter was his last conscious act as Dr. Jekyll. For this reason, Dr. Jekyll makes the decision to kill himself rather than allow Mr. Hyde liberate on the world. In the novel, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde focuses on a conception of humanity as dual in nature, although the theme does not emerge fully until the last chapter, when the complete storyRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Hyde1436 Words   |  6 PagesNovels, plays, and movies often depict characters caught in a conflict with their doubles. Such collisions call a character’s sense of identity into question. Robert Louis Stevenson takes this idea of doubles to a whole new level in his novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde. Upon closer examination of Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde and his reoccurring theme of duality, we see that however constrained a society is, a person must break free, be multifarious, exploratoryRead More The Importance of the House in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde1117 Words   |  5 PagesImportance of the House in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Steveson used the architecture of Dr. Jekylls house very intelligently. The house can be regarded to be parallel to Dr. Jekylls double personality. Throughout the book, the house lends itself as a powerful prop, by which it is possible for Dr. Jekyll to use his house even when he is in the form of Mr. Hyde. The house, like Dr. Jekyll, has a dark side. On the front side of the houseRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde1291 Words   |  6 PagesRobert Louis Stevenson reveals the result of the social expectations on Victorians’ personalities in his novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson uses the motif of the double to make a commentary on the conflict between human nature and Victorian society; specifically, by presenting the dualities that exist in the lives of Utterson and Dr. Jekyll, as well as through the symbolism of the doors in the narrative. In the initial paragraphs of the novella, Stevenson introduces MrRead MoreJekyll and Hyde: A Comparision Essay1210 Words   |  5 PagesDr Jekyll and Mr Hyde Stevenson’s â€Å"The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde† was one of the most famous works of horror fiction of all time in English literature. It was based in the nineteenth century. It reflects the influence of two important ideological forces in the Victorian era. The text uses gothic and detective elements to interest the reader as they were very popular at the time. The focus of the text is concentrated on the issue of Jekyll and Hyde’s personality which was describedRead MoreThe Picture Of Dorian Gray1608 Words   |  7 Pagesand Mr. Hyde Double is one of the most frightening themes of Gothic literature as it discloses humans’ darkly hidden desires or natures through their transformations. The characters’ transformation into double can be either literal or figurative. Either way, it demonstrates the decay of ones’ souls when the controls of their desires are lost, which result identity crisis or extreme panic and usually end in death. In Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the picture illustrates Dorian’sRead MoreThe Duality of Man in Literary Works and Critical Essays1580 Words   |  7 PagesCritical Essays The lifelong struggle for control and recognition of the human mind has been a popular and evolving science since the late-nineteenth-century. Many notable authors, scientists, and laymen have been fascinated with the study since then. Robert Louis Stevenson is one of the more notable authors to write about dual personalities with his short story, â€Å"Markheim,† and the novella, †The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.† The latter of these two stories has inspired the study of multiple

Railroads Free Essays

It was first developed in England in the 17th century. In the year 1827, The Baltimore Ohio Railroad (BO) was the first to offer scheduled freight and passenger service to the public in the US and quickly became the prime mover of people and goods. Due to the rapid increase in demand, importance and feasibility, rail tracks could be laid anywhere and the volume of land potentially available for development expanded tremendously. We will write a custom essay sample on Railroads or any similar topic only for you Order Now In the beginning it was difficult o predict with certainty which sites with rail road access will be in demand and at what price. Soon Railroads became the principle mode of transportation and areas started depending on rail access for growth and survival. Many municipalities also paid subsidies to private rail road firms to provide service to their communities. The giant rail road companies not only received the right-of-way from the government but also millions of acres of land along their proposed route. The companies got half the land within 6 to 40 miles of the right-of-way and the government retained the other half. The companies sold some of their land at appreciated prices and also retained vast acreage so that they can mortgage it and get capital. This turned out to be a good idea especially when politicians and citizens tried to force the sale of land. Over the years, railroad companies have retained ownership of immense quantity of urban and rural land. The land has been sold, leased, developed and has been used for all purposes. Even today, in many cities, rail road companies are still the biggest private land owners. Some of them have even formed real estate divisions to get greater returns on their assets. How to cite Railroads, Papers

Not a Biological Necessity free essay sample

Mead was born in Philadelphia in 1901. She earned a doctoral degree in anthropology from Columbia University, where she studied under the legendary anthropologist Ruth Benedict (p. 56). In 1925, Mead traveled to American Samoa for an extensive fieldwork project studying adolescent girls. She used this research as the basis for her first book, Conning of Age in Samoa (1928), which became a best seller and introduced a generation of nonspecialists to the field of anthropology. In 1929, Mead traveled to New Guinea for a similar study, which resulted in her second major book, Crowing Up in New Guinea (1930). She continued doing fieldwork throughout the world, but maintained strong ties to New York, where for most of her career she worked at the American Museum of Natural History. In the course of her career, Mead became known as an expert on both a diverse group of cultures and on human culture generally—on the ways that human beings form, maintain, and modify social relations. She refused to accept the common division of the world into civilized and primitive cultures, insisting instead that all cultures had things to learn from each other. The accessibility of her scholarly work, combined with her willingness to write articles for the popular press (she wrote a monthly column for Redbook magazine for seventeen years), put a human face on the often-obscure discipline of anthropology and gave Mead enormous influence with the American public. The following essay, Warfare: An Invention—Not a Biological Necessity, was originally published in Asia magazine in 194*0. It is based on one of Meads most cherished beliefs: that people can change by learning from other cultures. In this essay, Mead draws on her vast experience with other cultures to refute the popular argument that the inherent aggressiveness of human beings makes warfare inevitable. 3k Is WAR A BIOLOGICAL NECESSITY, a sociological inevitability, or just a bad invention? Those who argue for the first view endow man with such pugnacious1 instincts that some outlet in aggressive behavior is necessary if man is to reach full human i. Pugnacious: eager to fight, combative. G .-.. . !. WAR AND PEACE Mn MARGARET MEAD stature. It was this point of view which lay back of William Jamess famous essay, The Moral Equivalent of War, in which he tried to retain the warlike virtues and channel them in new directions. 2 A similar point of view has lain back of the Soviet Unions attempt to make competition between groups rather than between individuals. A basic, competitive, aggressive, warring human nature is assumed, and those who wish to outlaw war or outlaw competitiveness merely try to find new and less socially destructive ways in which these biologically given aspects of mans nature can find expression. Then there are those who take the second view: warfare is the inevitable concomitant of the development of the state, the struggle for land and natural resources of class societies springing, not from the nature of man, but from the nature of history. War is nevertheless inevitable unless we change our social system and outlaw classes, the struggle for power, and possessions; and in the event of our success warfare would disappear, as a symptom vanishes when the disease is cured. One may hold a compromise position between these two extremes; one may claim that all aggression springs from the frustration of mans biologically determined drives and that, since all forms of culture are frustrating, it is certain each new generation will be aggressive and the aggression will find its natural and inevitable expression in race war, class war, nationalistic war, and so on. All three positions are very popular today among those who think seriously about the problems of war and its possible prevention, but I wish to urge another point of view, less defeatist perhaps than the first and third, and more accurate than the second: that is, that warfare, by which I mean organized conflict between two groups as growfs, in which each group puts an army (even if the army is only fifteen Pygmies) into the field to fight and kill, if possible, some of the members of the army of the other group—that warfare of this sort is an invention like any other of the inventions in terms of which we order our lives, such as writing, marriage, cooking our food instead of eating it raw, trial by jury, or burial of the dead, and so on. Some of this list any one will grant are inventions: trial by jury is confined to very limited portions of the globe; we know that there are tribes that do not bury their dead but instead expose or cremate them; and we know that only part of the human race has had a knowledge of writing as its cultural inheritance. But, whenever a way of doing things is found universally, such as the use of fire or the practice of some form of marriage, we tend to think at once that it is not an invention at all but an attribute of humanity itself. And yet even such universals as marriage and the use of fire are inventions like the rest, very basic ones, inventions which were perhaps necessary if human history was to take the turn it 2. William Jamess famous essay: In the 1906 essay mentioned here, the American philosopher and psychologist William James (18421910) argues that the natural instincts of human beings toward competition, patriotism, and militarism can be channeled positively into public wotks projects and the fights against poverty and disease. WARFARE: AN INVENTION—Nor A BIOLOGICAL has taken, but nevertheless inventions. At some point in his social development man was undoubtedly without the institution of marriage or the knowledge of the use of fire. The case for warfare is much clearer because there are peoples even today who have no warfare. Of these the Eskimo are perhaps the most conspicuous example, but the Lepchas of Sikkim3 are an equally good one. Neither of these peoples understands war, not even the defensive warfare. The idea of warfare is lacking, and this lack is as essential to carrying on war as an alphabet or a syllabary4 is to writing. But whereas the Lepchas are a gentle, unquarrelsome people, and the advocates of other points of view might argue that they are not full human beings or that they had never been frustrated and so had no aggression to expend in warfare, the Eskimo case gives no such possibility of interpretation. The Eskimo are not a mild and meek people; many of them are turbulent and troublesome. Fights, theft of wives, murder, cannibalism occur among them—all outbursts of passionate men goaded by desire or intolerable circumstance. Here are men faced with hunger, men faced with loss of their wives, men faced with the threat of extermination by other men, and here are orphan children, growing up miserably with no one to care for them, mocked and neglected by those about them. The personality necessary for war, the circumstances necessary to goad men to desperation are present, but there is no war. When a traveling Eskimo entered a settlement he might have to fight the strongest man in the settlement to establish his position among them, but this was a test of strength and bravery, not war. The idea of warfare, of one group organizing against another group to maim and wound and kill them, was absent. And without that idea passions might rage but there was no war. But, it may be argued, isnt this because the Eskimo have such a low and undeveloped form of social organization? They own no land, they move from place to place, camping, it is true, season after season on the same site, but this is not something to fight for as the modern nations of the world fight for land and raw materials. They have no permanent possessions that can be looted, no towns that can be burned. They have no social classes to produce stress and strains within the society which might force it to go to war outside. Doesnt the absence of war among the Eskimo, while disproving the biological necessity of war, just go to confirm the point that it is the state of development of the society which accounts for war, and nothing else? 3. Lepchas of Sikkim: Sikkim is a small state in the Himalayan mountains of northeastern India. Its original inhabitants, the Lepchas, are noted for their peaceful traditions. About fifty thousand Lepchas still live in India and eastern Nepal. 4. Syllabary: a writing system in which a character represents a syllable rather than a single sound (as a character in an alphabet does). 5 MARGARET MEAD †¢ WARFARE: AN INVENTION—NOT A BIOLOGICAL Ni . WAR AND PEACE 42 We find the answer among the Pygmy peoples of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. 5 The Andamans also represent an exceedingly low level of society: they are a hunting and food-gathering people; they live in tiny hordes without any class stratification; their houses are simpler than the snow houses of the Eskimo. But they knew about warfare. The army might contain only fifteen determined Pygmies marching in a straight line, but it was the real thing none the less. Tiny army met tiny army in open battle, blows were exchanged, casualties suffered, and the state of warfare could only be concluded by a peacemaking ceremony. Similarly, among the Australian aborigines, who built no permanent dwellings but wandered from water hole to water hole over their almost desert country, warfare—and rules of international law—were highly developed. The student of social evolution will seek in vain for his obvious causes of war, struggle for lands, struggle for power of one group over another, expansion of population, need to divert the minds of a populace restive under tyranny, or even the ambition of a successful leader to enhance his own prestige. All are absent, but warfare as a practice remained, and men engaged in it and killed one another in the course of a war because killing is what is done in wars. From instances like these it becomes apparent that an inquiry into the causes of war misses the fundamental point as completely as does an insistence upon the biological necessity of war. If a people have an idea of going to war and the idea that war is the way in which certain situations, defined within their society, are to be handled, they will sometimes go to war. If they are a mild and unaggressive people, like the Pueblo Indians, they may limit themselves to defensive warfare; but they will be forced to think in terms of war because there are peoples near them who have warfare as a pattern, and offensive, raiding, pillaging warfare at that. When the pattern of warfare is known, people like the Pueblo Indians will defend themselves, taking advantage of their natural defenses, the mesa village site, and people like the Lepchas, having no natural defenses and no idea of warfare, will merely submit to the invader. But the essential point remains the same. There is a way of behaving which is known to a given people and labeled as an appropriate form of behavior. A bold and warlike people like the Sioux or the Maori6 may label warfare as desirable as well as possible; a mild people like the Pueblo Indians may label warfare as undesirable; but to the minds of both peoples the possibility of warfare is present. Their thoughts, their hopes, their plans 5. Pygmy peoples of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal: Until the twentieth century, the inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, which lie off the eastern coast of India, were huntergatherers who had virtually no contact with modem civilization. In 1901, the estimated two thousand Andamanese had twelve distinct, constantly warring tribes. 6. The Sioux or the Maori: The Sioux, or Lakota, are a Native American tribe that originally inhabited the northern Great Plains; the Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand. The Pueblo Indians inhabited the American Southwest. are oriented about this idea, that warfare may be selected as the way to meet some situation. So simple peoples and civilized peoples, mild peoples and violent, assertive peoples, will all go to war if they have the invention, just as those peoples who have the custom of dueling with have duels and peoples who have the pattern of vendetta will indulge in vendetta. And, conversely, peoples who do not know of dueling will not fight duels, even though their wives are seduced and their daughters ravished; they may on occasion commit murder but they will not fight duels. Cultures which lack the idea of the vendetta will not meet every quarrel in this way. A people can use only the forms it has. So the Balinese7 have their special way of dealing with a quarrel between two individuals; if the two feel that the causes of quarrel are heavy, they may go and register their quarrel in the temple before the gods, and, making offerings, they may swear never to have anything to do with each other again. Under the Dutch government they registered such mutual not-speaking with the Dutch government officials. But in other societies, although individuals might feel as full of animosity and as unwilling to have any further contact as do the Balinese, they cannot register their quarrel with the gods and go on quietly about their business because registering quarrels with the gods is not an invention of which they know. Yet, if it be granted that warfare is after all an invention, it may nevertheless be an invention that lends itself to certain types of personality, to the exigent needs of autocrats, to the expansionist desires of crowded peoples, to the desire for plunder and rape and loot which is engendered by a dull and frustrating life. What, then, can we say of this congruence between warfare and its uses? If it is a form which fits so well, is not this congruence the essential point? But even here the primitive material causes us to wonder, because there are tribes who go to war merely for glory, having no quarrel with the enemy, suffering from no tyrant within their boundaries, anxious neither for land nor loot nor women, but merely anxious to win prestige which within that tribe has been declared obtainable only by war and without which no young man can hope to win his sweethearts smile of approval. But if, as was the case with the Bush Negroes of Dutch Guiana,8 it is artistic ability which is necessary to win a girls approval, the same young man would have to be carving rather than going out on a war party. In many parts of the world, war is a game in which the individual can win counters—counters which bring him prestige in the eyes of his own sex or of the opposite sex; he plays for these counters as he might, in our society, strive for a tennis championship. Warfare is a frame for such prestige-seeking merely because it calls for the display of certain skills and certain virtues; all of these skills—riding straight, shooting straight, dodging the missiles of the enemy, and sending ones own straight to the mark—can be equally well exercised in some other framework and, equally, the virtues—endurance, bravery, loyalty, steadfastness—can be displayed in other 7. Balinese: the people of the island of Bali, in present-day Indonesia. 8. Dutch Guiana: the country presently known  as Suriname, located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana. 10 MARGARET MEAD * WARFARE: AN INVENTION—Nor A BIOLOGICAL 3. WAR AND PEACE 244 contexts. The tie-up between proving oneself a man and proving this by a success in organized killing is due to a definition which many societies have made of manliness. And often, even in those societies which counted success in warfare a proof of human worth, strange turns were given to the idea, as when the Plains Indians gave their highest awards to the man who touched a live enemy rather than to the man who brought in a scalp—from a dead enemy—because killing a man was less risky. Warfare is just an invention known to the majority of human societies by which they permit their young men either to accumulate prestige or avenge their honor or acquire loot or wives or slaves or sago lands or cattle or appease the blood lust of their gods or the restless souls of the recently dead. It is just an invention, older and more widespread than the jury system, but none the less an invention. But, once we have said this, have we said anything at all? Despite a few instances, dear to the hearts of controversialists, of the loss of the useful arts, once an invention is made which proves congruent with human needs or social forms, it tends to persist. Grant that war is an invention, that it is not a biological necessity nor the outcome of certain special types of social forms, still, once the invention is made, what are we to do about it? The Indian who had been subsisting on the buffalo for generations because with his primitive weapons he could slaughter only a limited number of buffalo did not return to his primitive weapons when he saw that the white mans more efficient weapons were exterminating the buffalo. A desire for the white mans cloth may mortgage the South Sea Islander to the white mans plantation, but he does not return to making bark cloth, which would have left him free. Once an invention is known and accepted, men do not easily relinquish it. The skilled workers may smash the first steam looms which they feel are to be their undoing, but they accept them in the end, and no movement which has insisted upon the mere abandonment of usable inventions has ever had much success. Warfare is here, as part of our thought; the deeds of warriors are immortalized in the words of our poets; the toys of our children are modeled upon the weapons of the soldier; the frame of reference within which our statesmen and our diplomats work always contains war. If we know that it is not inevitable, that it is due to historical accident that warfare is one of the ways in which we think of behaving, are we given any hope by that? What hope is there of persuading nations to abandon war, nations so thoroughly imbued with the idea that resort to war is, if not actually desirable and noble, at least inevitable whenever certain defined circumstances arise? In answer to this question I think we might turn to the history of other social inventions, inventions which must once have seemed as firmly entrenched as warfare. Take the methods of trial which preceded the jury system: ordeal and trial by combat. 9 Unfair, capricious, alien as they are to our feeling today, they were once 9. Ordeal and trial by combat: medieval methods of trying cases. Trial by ordeal subjected the accused to burning or drowning as a way of allowing God to signal guilt or innocence. Trial by combat allowed the accuser to challenge the accused to a duel, which would prove the alleged offenders guilt or innocence. the only methods open to individuals accused of some offense. The invention of trial by jury gradually replaced these methods until only witches, and finally not even witches, had to resort to the ordeal. And for a long time the jury system seemed the one best and finest method of settling legal disputes, but today new inventions, trial before judges only or before commissions, are replacing the jury system. In each case the old method was replaced by a new social invention; the ordeal did not go out because people thought it unjust or wrong, it went out because a method more congruent with the institutions and feelings of the period was invented. And, if we despair over the way in which war seems such an ingrained habit of most of the human race, we can take comfort from the fact that a poor invention will usually give place to a better invention. For this, two conditions at least are necessary. The people must recognize the defects of the old invention, and some one must make a new one. Propaganda against warfare, documentation of its terrible cost in human suffering and social waste, these prepare the ground by teaching people to feel that warfare is a defective social institution. There is further needed a belief that social invention is possible and the invention of new methods which will render warfare as out-of-date as the tractor is making the plow, or the motor car the horse and buggy. A form of behavior becomes out-of-date only when something else takes its place, and in order to invent forms of behavior which will make war obsolete, it is a first requirement to believe that an invention is possible. UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT 1. What underlying assumption about human nature does Mead reject in this essay? What evidence does she supply for rejecting this assumption? What arguments does Mead support through the examples of the Eskimos and the Lepchas? How do these two tribes differ? In what way are they similar? Which are most important for her argument, their differences or their similarities? How do the examples of the warlike Andaman Pygmies and Australian aborigines complement her arguments? 3. What factors does Mead see as determining whether a civilization will wage war? What kinds of changes would be required to eliminate this tendency? 4. What exactly does Mead mean by categorizing warfare as an invention? How does this idea change the traditional view of war? How does it give humanity hope of eliminating war?