live from South Africa

A few weeks ago, I blogged a piece called front, by, among other artists, Ralph Borland - a South African sculptor. Some of his response to me, over email:

in the spirit of blogging, i’ll tell you what i’ve got into lately that relates to front. i picked up a book called “the anatomy of human destructiveness” in a second-hand book store in observatory on the weekend. the photographer pieter hugo was with me and he recommended it as one of the best books he’s read. it was written in the early 70s, and is an investigation by psychologist eric fromm into the question of humanity’s instincts or tendencies: are they towards aggression and violence - is that the underlying cause of war and cruelty?

he’s in part countering a book which came out a few years before, the animal behaviourist konrad lorenz’s “on aggression”, which we - the millefiore effect - have referred to in documentation about front. fromm criticizes lorenz for making no distinction between defensive or functional aggression, and cruel and destructive aggression, which allowed lorenz to find cause for our warlike tendencies in our nature and instinct. fromm takes a harder look at the question. i like his character; he’s a humanist and an insightful analyst, who demonstrates the social and politic colouring of scientific enquiry. he argues against the essentially pessimistic notion that we tend towards war or cruelty. the question of our ‘natural’ tendencies is a crucial one if you’re interested in non authoritarian and non hierarchical alternatives for human organisation, as i am. the question of what a society without authority would look like, is a challenging and complex one. i’m enjoying this book. (Posted by Nathaniel Stern)