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Despite Freud's pioneer contribution to the problems of war and peace they have been, by and large, neglected by his followers.
The concept of the death instinct provides the most far-reaching answer to the question of the origin of war. Psychoanalysis should investigate unconscious motives behind the rationalizations frequently given as the cause of war. Even pure and noble conscious motives for war may be but a cover for unconscious hate and death wishes.
Although Freud rejected the idea of a general love of mankind, only such an ideal can remove the danger of the extermination of humanity. Freud's anthropological ideas lead us beyond the analytical to an ethical point of view. It was he who stressed the need for a change in the relationship between nations and the necessity for them to understand their hate so that they may dissolve it. Depth psychology should be used as a means of solving the problem of war.