Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/524

 506 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

from this point of view, may attain an independent life in the soul, is the less to be doubted since it represents here, as in many another easily observable combination, the embodiment of an impulse which is in the first place quite general, but which also occurs in quite peculiar forms, namely, the impulse to act in relationships with others.

In spite of this independence in the soul, which we may thus attribute to the antagonistic impulse, there still remains the question whether it suffices to account for the total phenomena of hostility. This question must be answered in the negative. In the first place, the spontaneous impulse restrains its sovereignty to the extent that it does not exercise itself toward every object whatsoever but only upon those that are in some way promising. Hunger, for example, springs from the subject. It does not have its origin in the object. Nevertheless, it will not attempt to satisfy itself with wood or stone, but it will select only edible objects. In the same way, love and hatred, however little their impulses may depend upon external stimuli, will yet need some sort of opposing structure or object, and only with such co-operation will the complete phenomena appear. On the other hand, it seems to me probable that the hostile impulse, on account of its formal character, in general only intervenes as a reinforcement of conflicts stimulated by material interest, and at the same time furnishes a foundation for the conflict. And where a struggle springs up from sheer formal love of fighting, which is also entirely imper- sonal, and indifferent both to the material at issue and to the personal opponent, hatred and fury against the opponent as a per- son unavoidably increase in the course of the conflict, and prob- ably also the interest in the stake at issue, because these affections stimulate and feed the psychical energy of the struggle. It is useful to hate the opponent with whom one is for any reason struggling, as it is useful to love him with whom one's lot is united and with whom one must co-operate. The reciprocal attitude of men is often intelligible only on the basis of the perception that intimate adaptation teaches us those feelings which are appropriate to the given situation ; feelings which are the most appropriate to the employment or the overcoming of the circum-