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way, the conquests of the Romans gave the extent, they were effective. For example, the and kill, which we group as aggressive or
countries close to the Mediterranean the idea of panhellenism, the sense of being destructive instinct.

invaluable pax Romana, and the ambition of superior to the barbarians from beyond the As you see, this is nothing but a
the French kings to expand their dominions borders, an idea that was expressed with theoretical formulation of the universally
created a peacefully united and flourishing such vigor in the amphictyonic council, in known opposition between love and hate,
France. the oracles and in the games, was strong to which may perhaps have some basic
Paradoxical as it may seem, it must the point of mitigating the warlike customs relationship with the polarity between
be admitted that war could be a far from among the Greeks, though, of course, attraction and repulsion, which plays a
inadequate means of establishing the not strong enough to prevent warlike role in your area of knowledge. However,
eagerly desired reign of everlasting peace, dissensions between the different parts we should not be too hasty in introducing
for it is in a position to create the great units of the Greek nation, or even to prevent a ethical judgments of good and evil.
within which a powerful central government city or confederation of cities from allying Neither of these two instincts is less
makes further wars impossible. However, with the Persian enemy, in order to obtain essential than the other; the phenomena
it fails in this regard, as the results of an advantage against some rival. of life arise from the confluent or mutually
conquest are generally short-lived: newly The identity of feelings among Christians, contrary action of both. Now, it is as if an
created units fall apart again, most often although it was powerful, failed, at the time instinct of one kind could hardly operate
due to a lack of cohesion between the parts of the Renaissance, to prevent Christian in isolation; it is always accompanied,
that were united by violence. States, both large and small, from seeking or, as we say, amalgamated by a certain
Furthermore, until today the unifications the sultan’s help in their wars against each quantity on the other side, which modifies
created by the conquest, although of other. And there is currently no idea that its objective, or, in certain cases, makes it
considerable extent, were only partial, is expected to exercise such a unifying possible to achieve that objective. Thus, for
and the conflicts between them gave rise, authority. In reality, it is very evident that example, the instinct of self-preservation
more than ever, to violent solutions. The the national ideals, by which nations is certainly erotic in nature; However, you
result of all these war efforts was, therefore, are governed today, act in the opposite must have aggressiveness at your disposal
only that the human race exchanged the direction. to achieve your purpose.
numerous and truly endless smaller wars Some people tend to prophesy that it will Thus, the love instinct, when directed
for large-scale wars, which are rare, but not be possible to put an end to the war towards an object, also needs some
much more destructive. If we turn to our as long as the communist way of thinking contribution from the dominance instinct,
own times, we reach the same conclusion has not found universal acceptance. But in order to obtain possession of that object.
that you reached by a shorter route. this objective, in any case, is currently The difficulty of isolating the two types of
Wars will only be avoided with certainty very remote, and could perhaps only instinct in their real manifestations is, in
if humanity unites to establish a central be achieved after the most terrible civil fact, what has hitherto prevented us from
authority that will be granted the right wars. Therefore, at present, the attempt recognizing them.
to arbitrate all conflicts of interest. Two to replace real force with the force of ideas If you want to follow me a little longer,
distinct requirements are clearly involved seems to be doomed to failure. We will be you will see that human actions are
in this: creating a supreme authority and making a wrong calculation if we ignore the subject to another complication of a
endowing it with the necessary power. fact that the law was originally brute force different nature. Very rarely is an action
One without the other would be useless. and that, even today, it cannot do without the work of a single instinctive impulse
The League of Nations is intended to be the support of violence. (which must be composed of Eros and
an instance of this kind, but the second I will now add some observations to your destructiveness). In order to make an
condition has not been fulfilled: the League comments. You express surprise at the fact action possible, there must, as a rule, be
of Nations has no power of its own, and can that it is so easy to inflame enthusiasm for a combination of these compound motives.
only acquire it if the members of the new war in men, and introduce the suspicion This, long ago, was noticed by an expert
union, the different States, are willing to that something in their activity requires in his subject, Professor gC Lichtenberg,
give it up. And, at the moment, prospects something, an instinct of hatred and who taught physics in Göttingen, during
in this regard seem scarce. destruction, which cooperates with the our classicism, although, perhaps, he was
The institution of the League of Nations efforts of the merchants of war. . Here too I even more notable as a psychologist than
would be completely unintelligible can only express my complete agreement. as a physicist. He invented a ‘compass of
if it ignored the fact that there was a We believe in the existence of an instinct reasons’, as he wrote: ‘The reasons that
courageous attempt, such as has rarely of this nature, and during the last few lead us to do something could be arranged
(perhaps never on such a scale) been made years we have really been busy studying in the manner of a compass rose and given
before. It is an attempt to base authority its manifestations. names in a similar way: for example, ‘bread-
on an appeal to certain idealistic attitudes Allow me to take this opportunity to bread-fame’ or ‘fame-fame-bread’. So that,
of the mind (i.e., coercive influence), which present to you a part of the theory of when human beings are incited to war, they
otherwise rests on the possession of force. instincts which, after many hesitant can have a whole range of reasons for
We have already seen that a community is attempts and many vacillations of opinion, letting themselves go, some noble, others
held together by two things: the coercive was formulated by those who work in the vile, some frankly declared, others never
force of violence and the emotional bonds field of psychoanalysis? mentioned. There is no reason to list them
between its members. If one of the factors According to our hypothesis, human all. Among them is certainly the desire for
is absent, it is possible that the community instincts are of only two types: those aggression and destruction: the countless
will still be maintained by the other factor. that tend to preserve and unite what we cruelties that we encounter in history and
The ideas appealed to can, of course, call ‘erotic’, in exactly the same sense in in our everyday lives attest to its existence
only be important if they express important which Plato uses the word ‘Eros’ in his and its strength.
affinities between the members, and one Symposium, or ‘sexual’. ‘, with a deliberate The satisfaction of these naturally
may wonder how much force these ideas expansion of the popular conception of destructive impulses is facilitated by
can exert. History teaches us that, to some ‘sexuality’; and those that tend to destroy their mixing with other motives of an

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