On Aggression

This work has had significant impact on the social and biological sciences and is now a classic point of reference for investigations of behavioral patterns. Lorenz presents his findings on the mechanism of aggression and how animals control destructive drives in the interest of the species. Translated by Marjorie Kerr Wilson. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book

An investigation of aggressive behavior among the same species of animals related to the difficulties of coexistence among humans.

First published in the 1960s, On Aggression has been the target of criticism and controversy ever since. It is not Lorenz's careful descriptions of animal behaviour that are contentious, but his extrapolations to the human world that have caused reverberations resulting in a statement adopted by UNESCO in 1989 and subsequently endorsed by the American Psychological Association that appears to condemn his work. But does On Aggression actually make the claims implicit in the Seville statement?
In a new introduction by Professor Eric Salzen, the debate about Lorenz's work is set in its social and political context and his claims and those of his critics reassessed. Human aggression has not lessened since this seminal work first appeared and there are no convincing new solutions. On Aggression should be read by all new students and re-read by more experienced scholars so that the important evidence he presents from ethnology may be reappraised in the light of the most recent research.

Guardian

Packed with entrancing detail, profound wisdom and deft humor . The book is a masterpiece.

Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989), Austrian zoologist, played a leading part in the foundation of ethology, the study of animal behavior. Most of his work was done at the Max Planck Institute of Behavioral Psychology, in Seewiesen, Bavaria. Lorenz studied greylag geese and jackdaws in particular, and rediscovered the principle of imprinting (originally described by Douglas Spalding in the nineteenth century). In 1973, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, sharing it with two other important ethologists, Niko Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch. His books for lay readers include "King Solomon's Ring", "Man Meets Dog", "Behind the Mirror", "Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins", and "The Year of the Greylag Goose".