UDC

140

DOI

10.17238/issn2227-6564.2019.1.128

Authors

Oleg V. Ovchinnikov
Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov; nab. Severnoy Dviny 54, korp. 1, Arkhangelsk, 163000, Russian Federation;
e-mail: o.ovchinnikov@narfu.ru
Aleksey G. Demenev
Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov; ul. Smol’nyy Buyan 1, 163002, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation;
e-mail: a.demenev@narfu.ru

Abstract

Human behaviour is described as a result of the interaction between the natural and cultural aspects of man. The natural includes a set of genetic programmes developed in the course of human evolution and leading to man’s separation from the animal world and transition to the conscious level of behaviour, where one is able to model his/her place in the world, evaluate the past and predict the future. In the course of socialization, cultural programmes are layered upon the natural ones. This acts as a sociogenome. Natural programmes, both in the animal world and in man, give the individual a spur for self-preservation, but it is also they that are improved while preserving populations, not individuals. This is the biological basis of altruistic behaviour. Over time, the cultural programme forms layers on the biological basis. Initially, it is the morals formulated first in religious systems, then in philosophy, art, literature, and so on. Thus, a food chain object becomes a subject valued by himself and others. This article dwells on Karl Marx’s concept of violence as the “midwife of history”. The history of the 20th and early 21st centuries put this concept, as well as the liberal model of violence in creating a consumer society, to a test. The authors point out that the fierce struggle between light and darkness, man and anti-man involves various forms of violence. In addition, the paper assesses the correlation between the social and the biological factors of violence in contemporary studies.

Keywords

philosophy of violence, antisocial behaviour, heredity, biological basis of violence

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