Defensology: Human Aggressivity and the Civilising Principle

Thomas Hobbes claimed that humans are unique from others beings in their capacity for violent conflict. Assuming this claim to be true, the author invites us into a holistic philosophical and psychological investigation of human aggressivity. Interpreting Plato's larger philosophical project as resting on the axiom that human beings must be dealt with within the paradox of both aggressive and cooperative dispositions, the author draws on a number of various sources in order to draw out a revitalized understanding of human aggression. From the heroes of the Iliad, to Greek mythology, to contractual liberal morality, to Nietzsche, to the German sociologist Norbert Elias, how can we re-evaluate this paradox - and how can we understand the forces of civilising that have emerged in response? In a continental-philosophical style, we address such urgent questions: Does liberalism have a satisfying answer to such forces? Or is a tolerance-centric political philosophy now failing to meet the needs and realities of individual and social, human existence?