In a commentary in Nature, biologist Mark Pagel claims that the Gomez study represents a “serious blow” in favor of the Hobbesian viewpoint. The study, carried out by Jose Maria Gomez of the University of Granada and three other researchers, asserts that “lethal violence is deeply rooted in the primate lineage” and that humans “inherited their propensity for violence.” Ī new study in Nature, “The phylogenetic roots of human lethal violence,” adds fuel to the debate over the origins of violence. Many people believe that if war is innate, it is inevitable, and hence efforts to eradicate it are futile. I tirelessly critique these claims, because they have consequences. The Hobbesian view overlaps with what I call the deep-roots theory of war, which holds that lethal group violence is innate, bred into us by natural selection.

In his 2011 bestseller The Better Angels of Our Nature, Pinker asserts that even the most war-torn modern states are “far less violent than traditional bands and tribes.” “ Hobbes got it right,” Pinker declared in a 2007 essay. They include Richard Wrangham, Jared Diamond, Edward Wilson, Azar Gat, Steven LeBlanc, Lawrence Keeley and Steven Pinker. Many influential modern scholars espouse versions of this Hobbesian view.

The 17 th-century British philosopher argued that before civilization, our ancestors were mired in a “war of all against all.” Only the emergence of powerful governments, “Leviathans,” Hobbes called them, curbed our violent tendencies.

Azar gat war in human civilization