Time and Place:New York at Kaufman Concert Hall on April 2, 1968

Abstract: The lecture series The Causes of Human Aggression and Destructiveness presents the results of research published by Erich Fromm in his book The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (1973). The first lecture takes a critical look at Freud’s theory of the death instinct according to which humans are driven towards death and destruction, and that this manifests outwardly as aggression. A second critical look refers to the theories by Konrad Lorenz published in his book On Aggression (1963), which explores the idea that animals are naturally inclined to fight within their own species for resources. – The lecture was given by Erich Fromm on the invitation of the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association at Kaufman Concert Hall. The lecture (56’) is followed by Fromm’s answers (23’) to questions from the audience.

The text of the lecture and discussion can be downloaded as a PDF file.

ID in the directory of Erich Fromm’s works (https://fromm-online.org/en/works/original-writings/): 1968n-eng