Has there ever been a civilization that had no human enemies?
Upvote:2
No. That's wishful thinking.
Humans can be pretty violent, to put it mildly. Population pressure will automatically create violence. Productive sites that are relatively save in isolation are rare. Once the most productive real estate is taken there are plenty of younger tribesman who have to move out or take it over. If that doesn't happen, it means your tribe is dying out ...
The only civilization that I can think of is Egypt, but even they were invaded occasionally. Much less than other societies, that's one of the reasons why it lasted that long.
It's a topic discussed in much more detail in Guns, Germs and Steel. In fact, every tribal society lives in constant fear for its life. Every person they meet is a potential enemy. He may not kill you, but you have to be prepared if he does. Going to bed can be dangerous, a neighboring tribe might plan a raid while you sleep.
You may or may not like it, but the only society where you have fewer human enemies than ever before in history is modern western society.
Upvote:2
Define "enemy"; enemies are those who are hostile to our agenda. There has never been and never will be a society that doesn't disagree about internal divisions of power and privilege, or about resource utilization. Even if the society is totally isolated from external neighbors, there will be internal divisions about how power and privilege are distributed (until you find a way to organize society so that everyone is superior to everyone else; not just equal, but superior). There will always be resource conflicts; there is always a limiting resource, land, water, food, etc. and there will always be disagreements about how limited resources are used.
And even if those are somehow perfectly balanced, there will be Helen of Troy - either conflicts over partners, or else conflicts introduced by ineffable external powers.
"society" and "enemy" are a bit like Yin and Yang; it isn't possible to conceive of one without defining the other.
but there always must be an "enemy" (Jews, Muslims, immigrants, etc.) to blame one's problems on.
Because throughout history, not a single human being has ever been to blame for their own problems. Adam wasn't responsible for eating the apple, he was merely following orders....
Not entirely sure why it is necessary to specify "human" enemies....
Aside: big hat tip to @jos, for pointing out that modernity is perhaps the closest you'll come, for reasons (at least partially )addressed in ACOUP, and IIRC Pinker
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