aggression

man (human)

nationality

Austrian

occupation / innovator as

ethologist

university teacher

biologist

zoologist

philosopher

physician

scientist

scientific organization

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

psychologist

Royal Society

Austrian Academy of Sciences

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

innovator in the field of

philosophy

National Academy of Sciences

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

ethology

World War II

is a basic drive which natural selection has long favored so we have a large capacity for aggression, inherited from our ancestors, but lack opportunities to work it off in the modern world.

aggression is firmly directed towards others, vwe may get more help from Konrad Lorenz, who won the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his work on animal behavior. In his book known in English as On Aggression, but originally entitled Das sogenannte Bose, Lorenz argues that aggression is older than love: reptiles show aggression, but no affection towards each other. His concern is not with predation-attacks on other species-but with aggression between members of the same species. It is a means of establishing distance and hierarchy. The aggressive individual intimidates those who are below him in the pecking order. It can also be a way of defending one's territory, the spatial distance that must be preserved in order to ensure an adequate food supply. Aggression is therefore a basic drive, also found in humans. In the past, natural selection favored aggressive individuals. Hence we now have a large capacity for aggression, inherited from our ancestors, but lack opportunities to work it off. This is Lorenz's explanation for the frequency of violence in the modern world.

is the missing link between apes and human beings.

Konrad LorenzThinkers

Konrad Lorenz