Margaret Mead Warfare

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WAR NOT A BIOLOGICAL NECESSITY-Margaret Mead “Warfare is only an Invention-Not a Biological Necessity” was written by Margaret Mead to express her idea that war was just an invention the people use for several reasons: one is aggression and biological. It is not a biological necessity because it is not something humans need in order to live. Since humans are aggressive, they need a way to let this aggressive behavior so war was invented as a way to release this aggression. War is a struggle between people that will not be solved until the people find another to express their destructive behavior in a non-destructive manner just like “how symptoms disappear when a disease is cured.” She goes on to explain why are faulty sense of human nature…show more content…
She then proceeds to illustrate her point that since there are different cultures were warfare is not part of the culture with some examples such as the Eskimos, who fought with one another but was two individuals, not groups people therefore it was not warfare. Warfare she defines as two groups of people aimed at killing or wounding the other group. This example goes to show that warfare does not have to be part of a culture. Therefore, it is not a biological necessity. She does address the situation of cultures can know of warfare, but not be engaged in it. She concluded the article with the point that biology and a developed or not developed social structures do not account for warfare. From the way, the paper is written and from the examples she uses, she believes that war is an invention, not a biological necessity. There is other was of settling disputes such as…show more content…
With this in mind, she used the logical proposition, Modus Tollendo Ponens (Disjunctive Syllogism), which states that person is only given two choices and if person do not one of the options then the person is choosing the other. She sets up this disjunctive syllogism stating that is warfare is either a result biological necessity or it is an invention. Since it is not biological necessity, then it must be invention. Disjunctive syllogism is one of the most common theorems that are used in argumentative. It is great theorem because you are able to get twice the importance. When an author uses examples that contradict the opposing side to the argument to prove that the argument is not the opposing side, it disproves the opposing side argument while giving more creditability to author’s side or opinion. One of the examples that Meade uses to disprove the theory that warfare is a biological necessity is the Eskimo. The Eskimo have a simple social organization and fight with one another. However, according to Meade this is not warfare because, “The idea of warfare, of one group organizing against another group...was absent” (Course Reader [CR] 14). She defines warfare as two organized groups of
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