200/201 The Brain and Aggression
June/September 2010

The International Colloquium on the Brain and Aggression (CICA), which stemmed from the World Congress on Aggression held in Mexico City in 1982, was first held in Seville, Spain, in May 1986. Its brief was to elucidate, in the light of modern scientific discoveries, whether violence and war are an inevitable part of human nature or whether human beings can manage conflict peacefully. The CICA adopted the Seville Statement on Violence, which was subsequently endorsed by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1989. The Seville Statement on Violence argues that peace can be achieved and that violence, in particular war, can be eliminated.

War is not included in our genes and therefore human aggression is not inevitable.

The papers on the main theme in this issue derive from the 15th CICA, held in Mexico City in 2007. Taking account of new advances in psychological and neurosciences as well as new experimental techniques to study the brain, and integrating the perspectives of bioethics, the author revisit and confirm the basic claim that violence and aggression, while embedded and embodied in cognitive processes, are nonetheless socially constructed and therefore amenable to social reconstruction. The authors thus contribute to understanding the human being as a bio-psycho-social organism.

Preceding issue (199): Cultural diversity
Next issue (202): Political anthropology of the global