War_and_Society__Is_War_a_Cultural_or_Biological_Phenomenon_

War is strongly ingrained into our world today whether we like it or not and while it may seem more prevalent and worse lately considering the advances in technology and the increase in hysteria over security, war is not a recent adjunct to society. That poses the question, where does war come from' As human beings, are we hard-wired biologically to fight each other or is it a behaviour influenced by peers and morals' What is war' According to the thefreedictionary.com online dictionary, war is described as: 1. a. A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties. b. The period of such conflict. c. The techniques and procedures of war; military science. 2. a. A condition of active antagonism or contention: a war of words; a price war. b. A concerted effort or campaign to combat or put an end to something considered injurious: the war against acid rain. The etymology of the word “war” can be traced back to the Old High German language word “werra” meaning strife; akin to Old High German “werran” to confuse. These words were used sometime in the 12th century. Marcus Tullius Cicero, a Roman philosopher, once defined war as "a contention by force" and the working definition of war for the purpose of this essay will be Cicero's definition. Our society is constantly at war. Companies wage war against other companies with weapons of advertising, marketing, and monopoly to attract business and ultimately net higher profits. Politicians fight battles with words and propaganda in their attempts to climb the political ladder. People, on an individual level, attack each other in efforts to raise their socioeconomic status. And this isn't including the wars our countries wage on each other. Natural resources, territory, religion, political views, and financial gain are just some of the many things wars have been fought for in the name of a country in the past and current wars are no exception. The question is: is war a part of our biology or is it a cultural phenomenon' Famous Prussian military theorist Karl von Clausewitz said that "war is the continuation of politics by other means." which supports the idea of war as a culturally influenced situation that is determined by the political power in control. War is a tool in the arsenal of a successful power to use when debating and non-violent persuasion fail to achieve the goals of the power. War is always waged for a reason, war is not a random act of slaughter. It is consequential to both the attacking and defending parties and no matter the amount of casualties, war comes with a heavy price. The financial cost of war is astronomical and the effects of war can be damaging to the political power. This is why war is usually a secondary resort instead of an impulsive decision coming from instinctive biology and not rationale. Biology has shown us that we do have reflexive, self defense mechanisms built in that serve the purpose of defending us from predators. But instead of fighting for a cause initiated out of respect for our self defense, we find these mechanisms being manipulated by the political power in order to gain public support for a war waged for entirely calculated reasons and not based on emotional expression. Denis Diderot, a French philosopher, elaborates on war as a sickness of humanity. He mentions that war is "a convulsive and violent disease of the body politic.” War is a disease that has resulted from humans becoming less dependent on their home country for survival and more dependent of foreign countries; a disease of greed. An example would be the oil and automobile industry. We depend on the crude oil that is largely located in foreign countries to make plastic, refine into gasoline for our vehicles, and create electricity. These countries in turn depend on us for the finances that they earn off of the oil as well as the products and technologies we are able to create. Each country is wanting to get their product at the lowest available price and sell high to make a profit. Unfortunately, not every country can be the world power. Now as we are constantly becoming more and more of a “global community”, relying on resources and skill sets of different countries, we are also becoming more self-conscious of our own country including our security. Has this tension arisen lately or has it been around for much longer than just this century' Let's take a look at the hunter-gatherer clans that existed thousands of years ago. These clans often clashed over rights to good foraging and hunting territories, women (especially prized women for the purpose of breeding), and in attempts to increase their number. This would be an early example of war that we can analyze from a cultural vs. biological perspective. This fighting was in the interest of attaining a wealth or resource which was used for survival but could these clans have survived without fighting' If we look at the resources and number of people on the planet then as compared to now we would see that the ratio of people to resources has significantly gone up today and that while numerous technological advances have been made no doubt, humans during the hunter-gatherer age would more than likely have had enough resources to share without having to secure the rights to them. So has war permeated our culture or has it always been there' Studies of primates and dolphins, two the most intelligent and comparable species to mankind, have shown that when fighting between members of the species occurs, other originally neutral members will take sides to defend the creature that is favoured. This happens in the interest of self preservation and the side that they choose is dependent on what is ultimately beneficial to them. This shows us that biologically comparable animals do decide to chose sides in disputes over opposing actions even by supporting non-violently which raises the question: is this war' According to Cicero, it is. Conflict and the survival of the fittest is biological. Darwin's theory of evolution discusses how evolutionary traits are intended to be beneficial and give the evolved offspring some useful function that will be advantageous. I believe that fighting and conflict is biological but the act of making war on another party has become a cultural phenomenon resulting from the desire to be the dominant species. Annotated Works Consulted Moseley, Alexander. “The Philosophy of War”. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2006. Online. http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/w/war.htm Found helpful quotes from philosophers as well as a good description of war. Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. First Edition. Print. Helpful for research regarding the theory of evolution and natural selection. Dawson, Doyne. “The Origins of War: Biological and Anthropological Theories.” History and Theory. Vol. 35, No. 1. (Feb., 1996): 1-28. Print. Necessary for research about biological theories. Ferguson, R. Brian. Online overview: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~socant/brian.htm. Notable resource for forming an opinion on whether war is cultural or biological. Larson, Brendon M. H. Entangled biological, cultural and linguistic origins of the war on invasive species. Berlin, New York (Mouton de Gruyter) 2008. 169–196.