ABSTRACT
Modern war is the climax of maladaptive human conduct. The discussion of maladaptive activity among high-cultured peoples has taken no account of the fact that whereas human conduct among such peoples is always assumed to be consciously aimed at the attainment of welfare, in the majority of instances there is uncertainty both as to what welfare is and to what course of action will attain it. A resume of the main forms of maladaptivity will fall under the two heads of reproductive activity and sexual activity. Several categories are quite as obvious and familiar as under reproductive activity. These fall into a group in which the activities involve two persons, and a group in which only one person is directly involved. The outstanding form under the first group in most civilized communities is prostitution; surely the merest allusion to this sufficiently establishes its place in our conception of maladaptive sexual activity.
