Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/66

 gregarious instinct is due the fact that primitive men originally drew together into hordes, which gradually became more and more systematically organised. The gregarious instinct not only brings men into communities, but by its persistence it keeps them welded in these communities. To this result the instinct of pugnacity has also contributed. It would seem at first sight that if gregariousness is the instinct of unity, pugnacity is the instinct of diversity. It would seem that this instinct would keep men from mixing with their fellows. But the pugnacious instinct, which does originally raise every man's hand against his neighbour, is trained to hold itself in reserve to be used not against fellow-citizens, but against the public enemies of the State to which they belong. For the sake of protection, and in order to get the better of their enemies, men unite in communities, and direct their pugnacious instincts into wars on behalf of the community to which they belong. Thus both the origin and the continuance of settled communities depend on this instinct. And the two instincts in conjunction may be said to be the foundation of the State.

Another pair of instincts which may be considered together in their social significance are self-abasement and self-assertion on the one hand, and the instinct of shrinking and repulsion on the other. Man, in his early development, whether in the individual or the race, instinctively fears what he does not understand. Primitive man wonders at all he sees, and the combination of fear and wonder gives rise to respect and awe when he compares his own weakness with the strength of the mighty powers