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Homicideandaggressioninthehistoryofmankind
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TheoreticalhypothesesofMalleusmaleficarumprovidedthelegalfounda-
tiontotrialsforwitchcraft.Yetthecatalogueofcrimesthatinthe16thto18th
centurywerecommonlythoughttobecommittedmainlybywomenremained
currentlongafter:theywereusuallyaccusedoflarceny,witchcraftandpoison-
ing.Forinstance,thefamousNeapolitanpoisoner,GiuliaTofana,wasreported
tohavehelpedremoveover600inconvenientindividuals,whileinGermanyat
theturnofthe18thcenturytheequallyfamousZwanzigerpoisoned22people
(Middendorff1979).InPoland,accordingtoMilewski(1982),womenweresen-
tencedforpoisoningtheirhusbandsintheyears1819and1837.
1.9HypothesesonthestateofnatureintheAge
oftheEnlightenment
IntheAgeoftheEnlightenment,twofamoushypothesesonthenatural
stateofhumanitywereformulated.ThomasHobbesassertedinhisLeviathan
thatthestateofnature,beforepeopleorganisedthemselvesintosocieties,was
thestateof“warofallagainstall”,andthatstatesandlawsareestablishedto
avoidthisintolerablestateofanarchy.Jean-JacquesRousseau,inturn,posed
thewell-knowntheorythatthenaturalstatewasthestateofinnocence,and
thathumanbeingsareenlightened,butalsoenthralledbytheinstrumentsof
civilisation.Thosetworivalhypotheses,intheirvariantsandinmanyguises,
seemtobeatoddswitheachothereventoday;thepositionsassumedby,for
instance,Lorenz(1983),Harris(1985)orFromm(1998)willbediscussedin
thefollowingchapters.
TheThirtyYears’War,whichwasaquasi-totalwar,laidCentralEuropewaste
andleftanApocalypticmemoryofitshorrors.Sincethendatesthehistoryofthe
modernpacifistthought.Yetconcurrentlyacontraryideadeveloped,andfinally
provedstronger:onecenteredonthepatrioticsanctityofwarandaggression.It
isprevalentespeciallysincetheFrenchandAmericanRevolutions,duringwhich
voluntaryforcesandmilitiaswereestablishedinplaceoftheconscriptedand
professionalarmy.Theideaofvoluntaryenlistment,andtheincreasinglyrich
symbolismofthesacredsacrificeoflifeonthealtarofthehomelandandthecult
ofthefallen,quicklygrewpopular(Mosse1990).InMosse’sopinion,the“myth
ofwarexperience”isbornfromtheaccountsofearlierconflicts,butitsessence
arethemanlyfriendshipofsoldier-citizens,theperceptionofmilitaryserviceas
thehighestmoraldutyandanhonour,andtheconceptofwarasatrialofchar-
acter,anhouroftruthandanescapefromvulgarbaseness,comfortsandcalcula-
tion.