On Agression
»... wonderfully stimulating to the historical imagination.« – J.H. Plumb, Saturday Review
‘On Agression’ has had significant impact on the social as well as the biological sciences and is now a classic point of reference for investigations of man’s behavioural patterns. Written by a Nobel Prize winner and one of the most distinguished pioneers in the field of animal behaviour, the book presents extraordinary findings on the mechanism of aggression and the various means by which animals control destructive drives in the interest of the species. Fish, wolves, dogs, rats, deer, birds and farmyard animals have developed their solutions for coexistence. In an ascending scale, Konrad Lorenz depicts the forms of their group associations, rising to the capacity for establishing lasting individual relationships comparable to the bond between human lovers.
Convinced that the biological sciences have gathered knowledge that can be applied to the better control of aggression in men, Konrad Lorenz looks at human behaviour with the objectivity of an investigator from another planet and voices a cautious optimism about the future of our civilization.
- »... a wise, eloquent and ... extremely important book.« – Howard E. Evans, Harper’s Magazine
- »Packed with entrancing detail, profound wisdom and deft humour ... the book is a masterpiece.« – The Guardian
- Nobel Prize winner Konrad Lorenz was a pioneer and world-renowned scientist of animal behaviour
Konrad Lorenz
Konrad Lorenz, born in 1903 in Vienna, studied Medicine and Biology. In 1949, he founded the Institute for Comparative Behaviourism in Altenberg (Austria) and changed to the Max-Planck-Institute in 1951. From 1961 to 1973, he was director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Ethology in Seewiesen near Starnberg. Konrad Lorenz is one of the founders of comparative ethology. In 1973, he won the the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology together with Karl von Frisch and Nikolaas Tinbergen. He died on February 27th, 1989.
