Museum manifesto. A natural history of violence

We have all felt the inconvenience, the pain or the feeling of insecurity induced by the adrelanin rush that is associated with violence. But what is really behind the term?
This manifesto provides some answers through various scientific disciplines such as zoology, ethology, anthropology, history and prehistory, or even social psychology. On the one hand, the human species belongs to the most violent group of mammals, the primates; on the other hand, the rate of lethal civil violence in Western Europe has never been so low… Can we really compare all forms of violence? What are the natural origins of violence?
This document was drafted by a committee formed in 2021 at the initiative of Bruno David, palaeontologist, biologist, and President, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN). The committee was chaired by Guillaume Lecointre, zoologist, systematician and professor of the MNHN.

Authors: Laurent Bègue-Shankland ◊ Caroline Gilbert ◊ Caroline Guibet Lafaye ◊ Shelly Masi ◊ Robert Muchembled ◊ Marylène Patou-Mathis ◊ Charles-Édouard de Suremain.