December 3, 1999

Anthropologists Debate Whether, and How, War Can Be Wiped Out

By KIM A. McDONALD

Some say humans can't overcome their innate aggression; others point to studies of peaceful societies

Can war be eliminated? Or is it simply a fact of life, an inevitable consequence of our innate aggressiveness and fear of outsiders?

Some scholars who gathered here at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association to review decades of research on war said they believed war could be abolished if nations worked together to prevent the escalation of armed