On Aggression

On Aggression is a 1963 work by Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz, a founder of modern ethology, the study of animal behavior. Lorenz argued that aggression, like other behaviors, has an innate, evolutionary basis. He proposed that aggression in humans, while potentially destructive, shares roots with animal fighting, which often serves to regulate population distribution, defend territory, and secure mates.123

Lorenz suggested that human aggression, though lacking internal inhibitions against killing, could be channeled into socially useful behaviors through understanding and addressing basic instinctual needs. The book explores how fighting and warlike tendencies in humans might be ritualized, similar to how aggression is managed in many animal species through displays and hierarchies rather than constant, lethal combat.1452