Passage 1

Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud agreed that the roots of war were to be found in an elemental instinct for aggression and destruction. Einstein thought that ‘man has in him an active instinct for hatred and destruction‘, and Freud believed he had identified a ‘death instinct‘ which manifested itself in homicide and suicide. Edward Wilson in ‘On Human Nature‘ argued that “we tend to fear deeply the actions of strangers and to solve conflict by aggression”. On the other hand, peace is not a panacea in which all human antagonisms are resolved. Peace is simply the absence of war, not the absence of conflict. Though peace and war are usually regarded as opposites, there is a sense in which both are aspects of the conflict that is endemic in all social life.

What is the primary purpose of the author in this passage?

(a)To prove that war is an unavoidable consequence of human instinctual aggression.

(b)To critique the views of Einstein, Freud, and Wilson as overly pessimistic regarding human nature.

(c)To redefine the concept of 'peace' in social life and situate war and peace within the arguments for innate human aggressiveness.

(d)To propose new comprehensive ideals for resolving human conflicts and achieving lasting global peace.