The State: Its History and Development Viewed SociologicallyOppenheimer, Franz
History
The State: Its History and Development Viewed Sociologically
Oppenheimer, Franz
State, The
All these things presuppose the development of pacific forms of
intercourse between neighboring groups. These forms are to be found
almost universally. They could very easily be developed at this period,
since the discovery had not yet been made that men can be utilized as
labor motors. At this stage, the stranger is treated as an enemy only
in doubtful cases. If he comes with apparently peaceable intent, he is
treated as a friend. Therefore, a whole code of public law ceremonies
grew up, intended to demonstrate the pacific intent of the newcomer.[K]
One puts aside one’s arms and shows one’s unarmed hand, or one sends
heralds in advance, who are always inviolable.
[K] In this category must be reckoned the salutation, still in use in
some parts, “Peace Be With You.” It is expressive of the perversity of
Tolstoi’s later years that he misapprehends this characteristic mark of
a time when war was the normal state of affairs, as the remnant of a
golden age of peace. _The Importance of the Russian Revolution_ (German
translation by A. Hess, p. 17).
It is clear that these forms represent some kind of claim to
hospitality, and in fact it is by this guest-right that peaceful trade
is first made possible. The exchange of guest-gifts precedes, and
appears to introduce, barter proper. It becomes, therefore, important
to investigate the source of hospitality.
Westermarck, in his recent monumental work (1907), _Origin and
Development of Moral Concepts_,[68] states that the custom of
hospitality results from two causes, curiosity for news from the
stranger from afar, and still more from the fear that the stranger
may be endowed with powers of sorcery, imputed to him just because he
is a stranger.[L] In the Bible, hospitality is recommended for the
reason that one can not know that the stranger may not be an angel.
The superstitious race fears his curse (the Erinys of the Greeks) and
hastens to propitiate the stranger. Having been accepted as a guest he
is inviolable and enjoys the sacred right of the blood-related group,
and is regarded as belonging to it during his stay. Therefore he
partakes of the benefits of the aboriginal communism reigning in the
group, and shares its property. The host demands and receives whatever
he claims, the stranger obtains in turn what he asks for. When the
peaceable intercourse becomes more frequent, the mutual giving of
guest-presents may develop into a trading arrangement, because the
trader gladly returns to the spot where he found good entertainment
and a profitable exchange and where he is protected by the laws of
hospitality, instead of seeking new places, where, often with danger to
his life, he would first have to acquire the right to hospitality.
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