EVOLUTIONARY THEORY AND SOCIAL DARWINISM INFLUENCED LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY THOUGHT. THE ASSUMPTIONS OF THE SOCIAL DARWINISTS INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING: (1) THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES OF NATURAL SELECTION AND THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST APPLIED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF RACES, NATIONS, AND EMPIRES; (2) WAR AND VIOLENCE CONSTITUTED NECESSARY TESTS OR PROVING GROUNDS OF A NATION'S FITNESS TO SURVIVE; AND (3) THE INCULCATION OF WARLIKE VIRTUES, PHYSICAL FITNESS, AND WAR-READINESS ARE VITAL CONDITIONS FOR NATIONAL OR RACIAL SURVIVAL. THE INSTINCTIVIST THEORY, DEVELOPED BY KONRAD LORENZ, ARGUES THAT HUMAN AGGRESSION IS A BASIC ORGANIC DRIVE AND IS PART OF MAN'S EQUIPMENT FOR SURVIVAL. LORENZ CONCLUDES THAT HUMAN AGGRESSION HAS 'GONE WILD,' AND THAT THE HUMAN RACE MAY BE ON A SUICIDE COURSE. IT IS CONTENDED THAT LORENZ'S THEORY OF AGGRESSION TELLS US NOTHING ABOUT LARGE-SCALE HUMAN VIOLENCE. BEHAVIORIST THEORY, HOWEVER, APPROACHES HUMAN AGGRESSION FROM AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT VIEWPOINT, ASSERTING THAT HUMAN AGGRESSION CAN BE ULTIMATELY CONTROLLED, REDUCED, OR EVEN ELIMIATED, BY THE CORRECT USE OF OPERANT BEHAVIOR. IT IS ARGUED THAT THIS APPROACH IGNORES AGGRESSION THAT IS SELF-INDUCED RATHER THAN LEARNED. ANOTHER THEORY, CALLED RELATIVE DEPRIVATION THEORY, SERIOUSLY UNDERRATES AND MISUNDERSTANDS THE ROLE OF IDEOLOGY IN INDUCING DISCONTENT, AGGRESSION, AND CONFLICT. PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES ARE TERMED ULTIMATELY DETERMINIST, AND LIKE ALL OTHER FORMS OF DETERMINISM, DENY MEANING TO THE NOTIONS OF MORAL GOODNESS, WICKEDNESS, AND MORAL RESPONSIBILITY. THESE VIEWS ARE IRRECONCILABLE WITH THE LIBERAL DOCTRINE OF MAN AS AN AUTONOMOUS MORAL AGENT AND CONSEQUENTLY ARE ANTAGONISTIC TO LIBERAL THEORIES OF POLITICS AND VIOLENCE. REFERENCE NOTES ARE PROVIDED. (PRG)