Those species that developed the
ability to keep together for mutual protection or for advantage. And
within a species those particular herds or flocks or tribes that
cooperated best outlived the others. With the strongest animals, such
as lions and tigers, and with the weakest, such as rabbits and mice,
the instinct to stand by one another is of no value and so was never
fostered by natural selection. But in many species of animals of
intermediate strength, that by cooperation might be able to resist
attack or overcome enemies that they would singly be impotent against,
the cooperative instinct became strongly developed. Notably in such
case was man; and we find group consciousness, tribal loyalty,
continually enhanced by the killing off of the tribes in which it was
feebler. The dominant races in man's internecine struggles have been
those of passionate patriotism and capacity for working together.
Nature has socialized man by a repeated application of the method
hinted at in the adage "United we stand, divided we fall." Successful
war demands loyalty and obedience, self-forgetfulness and mutual
service. It demands also the cessation of internal squabbling, the
restraint of individual greed, lust, and caprice. At first instinctive,
these virtues came with clearing consciousness to be deliberately
cultivated by the tribe, in ways which we shall in a moment indicate.
(3) As in the development of personal morality, the hostility of
inanimate nature, coupled with the urgency of inner needs, has also
played its part in the socialization of man.
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