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Darwin's stunning concept of the elementary biological continuity in all animal life was epochal and, as Darwinism, carries its impact into present-day psychoanalysis. This influence may be seen commonly in certain psychoanalytic writing, but also in analysts' use of such fields as ethology and biology to buttress their arguments of an instinctual basis for aggression in man. In turn, scientists in physics, mathematics, and biology have often attempted to apply their specialized knowledge to a study of aggression. All have failed equally in their attempts to find convincing animal analogues for human models.
In substance, after nearly half a century of countless laboratory experiments, the undeniably innovative studies of animals in their natural setting produced extensive and in some instances astounding new information about aggression: it is that there exists a notable lack of it—in animals.
Whatever biological legacy has descended to us, it has failed to bring with it the order in sexuality and aggression that governs all other animals. The most illuminating conclusion we are to draw is also the most disconcerting outcome of all these discoveries: They confirm plainly that it is a vain pursuit to attempt to find an analogue in animal life for what is so typical of man—aggression.