On Aggression

A lifetime of thinking, research, and observation clearly went into creating this marvelous book. I like it when someone clearly cares about what he's doing, engrosses himself in his work, possibly to the point of obsession. This may well describe Lorenz and this classic book, who defends Darwin and to some degree Freud, among others. Not just about his first hand observations of animals and his interpretation of their behavior, the book extends its scope to include philosophy and history, especially the evolutionary underpinnings of human history. It is rich in detail and very well written. A must read for anyone who cares about the past and future of living things on this planet. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.

For K. Lorenz, `conflict is the father of all things', and aggression is one of the four big conflicting drives in living beings, together with hunger, sex (love) and flight (fear, escape). Like everything else in life, aggression was molded by natural selection and mutation. It is the fighting instinct which is directed against members of one's own species (`like avoids like'). Its essential function is the preservation of the species as a whole. It provides for a balanced distribution of living beings of the same species over the available environment, selection of the strongest by rival fights and defense of the young. It is always favorable for the species if the strongest take possession of, mark (by song, scent, sound, color) and defend a territory and conquer the desired females. Aggression is a dangerous, because spontaneous, instinct and can become very harmful. Therefore evolution provided for innate behavior - the interaction of all drives - canalization in personal bonds (recognition, friendship, love), in communication (rites, appeasement gestures), in prohibitions (taboos). One example: when a female chimpanzee entered a new room, she presented her behind to every ... chair. And what about man? Why do reasonable beings behave so unreasonably? Because we are still subject to all the laws of instinctive behavior. Our pride, arrogance and overestimation prohibit us to learn from animals. We are worse than rats. Explosive population rise stops automatically in rat colonies and after a wholesale slaughter enough individual rats survive to propagate the species. This would not be the case for the human race if the H-bomb is used. But there is a glimmer of hope: we should consider ourselves as the missing link between animals and the real human beings to come. Education, science and peace should provide for a `human' transition. This is by any standard a very important and actual book. A picture of all the animals considered would, however, have been helpful. Like the works of R. Dawkins, this book a must read for all those wanting to understand human behavior.

This is the best known book by the Nobel Prize winning researcher Konrad Lorenz. Although some of his ideas may have become superceded by the Richard Dawkin's school of Ethology/SocioBiology (Dawkins wrote the excellent "The Selfish Gene", "The Extended Phenotype", "The Blind Watchmaker", and "River Out Of Eden" among others), they both collaborated with the renowned Nobel Prize winner, Niko(laas) Tinbergen. Essential reading for understanding species behavior and interaction. Lorenz became active in the Green Party as an environmental advocate. For those interested primarily with his views on human ecology and civilization, a good follow up book to this is "Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins"(1974).

Is TV to blame for human violence? Some people believe so. But in the countries with censored violence-free media the crime rate is even worse. According to the author aggression is innate, it evolved because environment made it necessary for the survival of the species. Aggression is also responsible for the development of personal relationships: one has to know whom not to kill. If there was no aggression there would be no biological need for friendship. The author proves his explanation of human behavior using numerous observations on various animal species, including the species that exhibit aggression and the ones that don't.

Lorenz's theories simply and logically explained. Very thought provoking material. Don't be afraid that it's out of date.