"While there is no evidence for saying that war is inevitable, there is abundant evidence for saying that nothing will ever eliminate the aggressive instincts of human beings," Clyde K. Kluckhohn, professor of Anthropology, declared last night. His talk on "War and Human Nature" was sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe World Federalists.

Kluckhohn pointed out that all relations between groups of people are accompanied by coercion and that social life without sanctions is impossible. The use of force is assumed to be the ultimate means of preserving the vital interests of a group, even when this force is total destruction, Kluckhohn said. "We now need an innovation, some kind of acceptable sanction that doesn't involve human life," he declared.

Societies have Reservoirs of Tension

Kluckhohn explained that all societies have reservoirs of tension and submerged hostility, because the individuals in these societies have given up "their most deeply felt wishes" in the process of socialization. This repression makes it psychologically necessary not only to hate, but to have people or things we can hate with social approval.

To achieve world peace we must discover both an acceptable alternative to the ultimate sanctions of war, and some channel other than war for the aggressive instincts of man, Kluckhohn said.

He noted that leaders in this country have an increasing awareness of the non-rational and irrational forces in human behavior.