The Aztec warrior. Human sacrifices. Hammurabi's Code.
Gladiatorial combats in the Colosseum in Rome. World Wars I and II. Mass
These are but some few examples of human displays of violence
throughout history. Humans, for one reason or other, killed people for one
or more of these three motivations: violent acts are motivated either by
the need to survive, alleviate pain, or reinforce conducts tolerated by the
Notice that these motivational factors have evolved, where there is a
transition from committing violence due to physiological pain to pressures
and influences in the social environment. The move from quantitative
towards qualitative outlook of human violence illustrates the increasing
complexity of defining and determining violence in the contemporary times.
In order to understand the nature of human violence in society throughout
history, it is thus imperative to trace the origins of violence among
humans, citing specific examples that illustrate violence committed for
survival, alleviation of pain, and/or reiteration of the social
The texts that follow discusses and analyzes the trends and changes
in the motivations and illustrations of human violence throughout history.
In this paper, the researcher posits that in the contemporary or present
time, humans have become more violent and human violence became an
increasingly complex concept or idea to grasp, due to social changes in
During the prehistoric times, humans have resorted to violence as a
way to demonstrate aggression towards the enemy. Enemies of prehistoric
humans are other humans who are considered competition to potential sources
of food and other basic needs, and animals and other elements of Nature
that threaten to affect the physical health of an individual. Supporting
this description of human violence in prehistoric times is Erich Fromm's
(1969) analysis of human violen...