ABSTRACT
Biologists have long been interested in human aggression, but only recently has attention turned to biological issues of war and genocide. The study of the biology of human behavior is responsible for the shift, as this area of investigation offers evolutionary hypotheses for even the most devastating social behaviors. The attention given these broad social issues may prove to be critical in the understanding of human behavior. As man expanded his influence around the world he left millions of bodies in his wake. The greatest tragedies were not wars at all, but slaughters—genocides, with one group attempting to eliminate another. Wars between nations seem almost tame by comparison. As nation-states formed, beginning around 1600, wars became formalized, fought by nations with specified rules of conduct. Terrorism and genocide never vanished, however; it was cloaked in the rationale of nation wars, or conducted at the periphery of politics.
