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Civilized Man's Eight Deadly Sins

Konrad Lorenz,

Marjorie Latzke (Translator)

3.83 · Rating details · 633 ratings · 37 reviews

"...Miközben az emberiség az őt körülvevő természetet vandál módon pusztítja, saját magát is ökológiai katasztrófákkal fenyegeti. Ha már a gazdasági vonzatait is érzi, talán elismeri hibáit, de akkor valószínűleg már túl késő lesz. De arra legalább rá fog jönni, hogy ez a barbár folyamat az ő lelkében micsoda károkat okozott. A természettől való általános, egyre fokozódó e ...more

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Hardcover, 80 pages

Published by Egmont Books (UK) (first published 1973)

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Feb 16, 2012 Cărăşălu rated it really liked it

Lorenz is spot-on regarding the ”sins” of the civilized man: overpopulation, devastation of environment, the man's race against himself, the break with tradition, emotional entropy, indoctrinability, genetic decay and nuclear weapons. They are all linked with each other and most of the problems termed under the famous label "the crisis of the modern world" can be probably traced to one of the "sins" identified by Lorenz. Although the book is very short and readable, I found the author's continuo ...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Lea rated it liked it

This book, won the Nobel-prize in 1973, the same year as it was written, has some really interesting and inspiring points. It critizises modern society and human behaviour, which still is present in society today. It is also written in a simple language which makes it idealy suited for idealistic and critical thinking adolescents, but can be read by everyone.

However many of the scientific facts in this book are outdated and his (right-wing) political views are represented very strongly.

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Feb 09, 2018 Jovi Ene rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Laureat al Premiul Nobel pentru Fiziologie/Medicină, Konrad Lorenz este unul dintre fondatorii etologiei moderne - știința care se ocupă de studiul comportamentului animalelor și oamenilor.
Despre aceste comportamente și felul în care ele pot influența lumea este vorba și acest eseu, în care el identifică și analizează opt păcate ale omenirii, care pot determina și dispariția ei. Printre ele, suprapopularea, distrugerea naturii, pierderea tradițiilor, conflictele între generații sau bombele nucle ...more

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Jun 18, 2019 Bob Nichols rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Lorenz frames his eight deadly sins argument in the following way: Those “structures and functions” that are adaptive are normal. Behaviors (functions performed by structures?) that either underperform or overperform are “disorders” that he characterizes as pathological. His approach as an ethologist is to ask first, what is the “normal function” of a system and, if “disturbed,” whether it has been caused by an over- or underfunction as part of a system.” These deviations from the adaptive norm Lorenz frames his eight deadly sins argument in the following way: Those “structures and functions” that are adaptive are normal. Behaviors (functions performed by structures?) that either underperform or overperform are “disorders” that he characterizes as pathological. His approach as an ethologist is to ask first, what is the “normal function” of a system and, if “disturbed,” whether it has been caused by an over- or underfunction as part of a system.” These deviations from the adaptive norm are “sins.”

Thus, normal sexual reproductive behavior becomes abnormal when it increases relatively unchecked. Overpopulation eats up space, crowds individuals and “elicits aggression.” More people results in environmental degradation. Finding new ways to satisfy needs via technological advance consumes us and robs us of “the genuinely human activity of reflection.” Life becomes too easy; we move from necessity to overindulgence and “lose the ability to experience a joy that is only attainable through surmounting serious obstacles.” Boredom is the result. Norms of social behavior, based on an innate sense of justice, fall by the wayside. This tendency to overindulge, this chasing the transitory pleasures of indulgence, creates an “infantilism” that he calls (for some reason), “genetic decay.” Younger generations no longer have respect for the wisdom of the elders. Youngsters want to self-indulge; the elders want them to hold back. Technological advances that facilitate communication is used now to indoctrinate and manipulate the masses. The last sin takes the normal need to advance and defend one’s interests but now gives need nuclear weapons to advance one’s capacity either to get or to defend.

Lorenz blames these “sins” in large part on the attitude that denies biology’s role and on an attachment that says, instead, that we are environmentally determined. (1) “Man has not fewer but more genuinely instinctive impulses than any other animal,” he states. (2) This is about biological tendencies, not determinism. These emotional impulses are neither good nor bad per se. Rather, it is when they are either too much (or too little) vis-à-vis a situation that determines whether they are adaptive or abnormal. (3) By being aware of these impulses, we are, Lorenz believes, able to exert oversight of their expression.

Style-wise, the book was uneven. It was lay-friendly for the most part but technically obscure in other parts. Here and there, particularly in his discussion of the generational divide, Lorenz comes across as a fuddy-duddy, and indoctrination has always been a problem, though the scale is different now. Substantively, I like his normal-abnormal characterization of impulses but I think he underestimates the force of environmental pressures and I wonder if he does not misframe his argument as a result. If we pursue our natural impulses to reproduce, then we are per Malthus creating a population of need-seeking beings which then, functioning now as an emergent phenomenon, forces everyone to compete in increasingly aggressive ways. Our biology still plays out, but now it’s activated by external situations, as opposed to being driven solely from the inside. And this all proceeds in a logical sequence that has a “doom” quality about it, making Lorenz’s hope for addressing these sins with more normalized behavior futile.

(1) “The process of dehumanization discussed in Chapters 2-8 give support to the pseudodemocratic doctrine which maintains that the social and moral behavior of man is in no way determined by the phylogenetically evolved organization of his nervous system and of his sense organs but, rather, that this behavior is determined solely by the ‘conditioning’ to which, in the course of his ontogenesis, he is exposed by his particular cultural environment.”

(2) “Words like hate, love, friendship, anger, loyalty, affection, mistrust, trust, and so on, all signify states corresponding with the propensity to quite specific behavior patterns, in a way no different from the terms applied in scientific behavior research, such as aggressivity, ranking-order drive, territoriality, and termini connected with ‘mood…’”

(3) “Too much love spoils countless promising children, too much loyalty, raised to an absolute, has had appalling consequences.”
...more

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Feb 28, 2020 Manuel Alfonseca rated it really liked it · review of another edition

ESPAÑOL: Me gustó el capítulo sobre "Decadencia Genética", donde Lorenz dice cosas bastante parecidas a las que digo yo en mi libro "El Quinto Nivel de la Evolución".

Es curioso cómo Richard Dawkins, Konrad Lorenz, Theodosius Dobzhansky y yo llegamos en los años setenta a conclusiones bastante parecidas sobre la aplicación de la selección natural y la evolución al desarrollo cultural, aunque sea Dawkins quien ha quedado como inventor de la Memética, pues fue él quien ideó esa palabra. Se ve que e ESPAÑOL: Me gustó el capítulo sobre "Decadencia Genética", donde Lorenz dice cosas bastante parecidas a las que digo yo en mi libro "El Quinto Nivel de la Evolución".

Es curioso cómo Richard Dawkins, Konrad Lorenz, Theodosius Dobzhansky y yo llegamos en los años setenta a conclusiones bastante parecidas sobre la aplicación de la selección natural y la evolución al desarrollo cultural, aunque sea Dawkins quien ha quedado como inventor de la Memética, pues fue él quien ideó esa palabra. Se ve que el contenido de esa idea estaba en el aire, y se nos ocurrió a varias personas casi simultáneamente.

Pero el mejor capítulo es el que habla de "Formación Indoctrinada", refiriéndose principalmente a la ciencia. Aunque él atacaba principalmente el Conductismo, algunas de las cosas que dice al respecto se pueden aplicar hoy sin más a la ideología de género, esa aberración científica que, como dice Lorenz:

La formación indoctrinada surte efectos verdaderamente satánicos cuando grandes multitudes, continentes enteros e incluso, quizá, toda la Humanidad aúnan sus fuerzas para incurrir en una sola creencia errónea y malévola.

ENGLISH: I liked the chapter on "Genetic Decay," where Lorenz says things quite similar to what I say in my book "The Fifth Level of Evolution."

It is curious how Richard Dawkins, Konrad Lorenz, Theodosius Dobzhansky and I arrived in the seventies to quite similar conclusions about the application of natural selection and evolution to cultural development, although Dawkins is now considered the inventor of Memetics, as it was he who devised that word. But the content of that idea was in the air, so several people came up with it almost simultaneously.

But the best chapter is the one about "Indoctrinability", referring mainly to science. Although he primarily attacked Behaviorism, some of the things he says about it can be applied today to gender ideology, that scientific aberration that, as Lorenz says:

But indoctrination begins to have satanic effects only when it unites vast human conglomerates, whole continents, even the whole of humanity in a single, or erroneous, evil creed.
...more

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Dec 22, 2018 Ivana Futrikaničová rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Páči sa mi že knižka má skutočný nadhľad a veľa známych neblahých fenoménov (ochladnutie citov, opovrhovanie staršími, ekológia...) vedela pomenovať z iného uhlu, resp. Ich prepojila s nečakanými príčinami. Autor je biológ a je to cítiť, čo mi miestami vadilo: pri všetkom sa odvolával na naše prastaré kromanonske korene a genetickú výbavu. Ale prave tento pohľad bol občas prekvapivý a svieži. Miestami to zachádzalo do moralizovania, že všetko speje k úpadku a ľudstvo je na tom stále horšie... je ...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Old Man Aries rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: divulgazione, antropologia

Ho già parlato di Konrad Lorenz su queste pagine: una lettura fondamentale per chi abbia interesse nell’etologia, sia essa animale o umana.
Ed è proprio quest’ultima l’argomento centrale di questo libro, un breve ma completo saggio che si concentra su otto aspetti della civiltà così come la conosciamo che ne potrebbero causare (più o meno velocemente) l’annientamento.
Non si tratta di un libro “catastrofico” o allarmista, ma indubbiamente pone l’accento su vari aspetti che a 35 anni di distanza ...more

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Dec 08, 2016 Petra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Pohľad etológa (a nositeľa Nobelovej ceny za fyziológiu alebo medicínu) na západnú civilizáciu a modernú spoločnosť. Veľmi pesimistický a kritický pohľad. Aj keď čitateľ nemusí súhlasiť so všetkými myšlienkami, ktoré autor napísal v roku 1973, určite ho prinútia zamyslieť sa. A to by malo byť podľa mňa cieľom každej dobrej knihy.

"Rostoucí neochota snášet strasti spolu se sníženou lákavostí slasti má za na následek, že lidé ztrácejí schopnosti vkládat nepříjemnou práci do díla, které slibuje sla ...more

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Jan 20, 2014 Joseph rated it liked it

This book, while it contains some good ideas, does not read as any kind of well thought out and planned scientific treatise, but rather a collection of personal musings on the state of the world at the time (1973). It was easy to read and agreeable, but I was expecting more profound insights from this thinker, which I found lacking in this work. Most of the arguments are based on personal opinion rather than any concrete facts, and while I agree with much of the sentiment, especially regarding t ...more

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Feb 17, 2017 Petra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Relativně krátká kniha od zakladatele etologie a nositele Nobelovy ceny za fyziologii a medicínu - Konrada Lorenze. Pojednání vznikla za studené války a jsou to úvahy hodně kritické a pesimistické k naší společnosti. Rozhodně vybízí k zamyšlení a nepochybuji, že z části je stále aktuální. Doporučila bych všem.

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May 31, 2020 Attila Szabo rated it liked it

The author lists the 8 deadly sins which he thinks contributes to the fall of the humankind.

- Overpopulation
- Crimes against nature
- Obsessive technological development
- Emotional atrophy
- Genetic decay
- Ruptured traditions,
- Indoctrination / propaganda
- Nuclear weaponry.

The author brings some examples from the etology and biology to explain the reasons behind the sins.

I missed the actionable parts from the book, while the reflection on the current or past situation is informative I'm also looki ...more

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Jun 17, 2020 Paolo Bagnato rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Lucidissimo. Lo consiglio a tutti

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Aug 19, 2017 Bioteo rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: saggi

Ci possono essere due spiegazioni per un libro piccolo e di poche pagine come questo. O l'autore aveva poco o nulla da dire oppure aveva troppo da dire! Sicuramente in questo caso si tratta della seconda spiegazione. In questo capolavoro il padre dell'etologia, premio Nobel per la medicina, analizza con fredda lucidità la situazione della nostra società evidenziando le innumerevoli criticità che potrebbero portarci al collasso. In un mondo in cui si crede che l'istinto umano debba essere control ...more

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May 27, 2012 Igor Tsinman rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Конрад Лоренц - австрийский учёный, лауреат Нобелевской премии по физиологии и медицине за 1973 год — основоположник этологии.

Книга отличная (!) - написана просто и убедительно. Я прочел "Восемь смертных грехов цивилизованного человечества" буквально за один вечер.

Вот список вопросов, которые поднимает Лоренц:

Глава 1. Структурные свойства и нарушения функций живых систем.
Глава 2. Перенаселение.
Глава 3. Опустошение жизненного пространства.
Глава 4. Бег наперегонки с самим собой.
Глава

...more

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Oct 16, 2019 Rebecca Mari-Mohl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Asta e din ciclul "cărțile te fac neprost". :)) Konrad Lorenz nu doar scrie ci ne servește o doză crescută de educație, cultură și știință.

Senzația pe care eu o am după ce parcurg o carte din asta este că brusc sunt mai deșteaptă. :)) Adevărat că limbajul este unul de specialitate, destul de greu de urmărit, dar da, e altceva. Culmea, scrisă prin '70, atât de actuală. Viziunea lui asupra viitorului cu aplicabilitate metronomică... Asta face știința și reprezentanții ei. Nu dau greș nici măcar î ...more

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Dec 29, 2019 Cristina Turcanu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

,,Una din cele mai rele consecințe ale agitației sau poate ale fricii care produce nemijlocit agitație e incapacitatea oamenilor moderni de a sta fie și numai un timp scurt singuri cu ei înșiși. Ei evită orice posibilitate de autoreflecție
și meditație cu o consecvență plină de frică, de parcă s-ar teme ca nu cumva reflecțiile sa-i pună în fața unui autoportret înfiorător, asemănător cu cel pe care Oscar Wilde îl descrie în clasicul său roman de groază The Picture of Dorian Gray.,,

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Oct 23, 2012 Sergey rated it it was amazing

Поразительно, как за 20-30 лет поменялся и сам мир, и его восприятие. Хотя не исключено, что старые проблемы (например, тот же молодежный бунт) вернутся в новом качестве. А может именно они привели к возникновению новых феноменов нашего времени - того же слияния поколений в социальной и профессиональной сфере?

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Feb 08, 2017 Alyona rated it liked it · review of another edition

Интересно и есть над чем поразмышлять: с чем-то поспорить, а с чем-то и согласиться. Удивительно, что описанные "грехи" с годами не только не теряют своей актуальности, но довольно стабильно остаются с человечеством... Возможно даже растут, но тут уж надо смотреть статистику:) ...more

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Sep 27, 2017 Rykon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Грустно, но поучительно видеть, что многие вещи, которые так бесят сегодня, были очевидны еще в семидесятых.

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Dec 11, 2020 Varapanyo Bhikkhu rated it really liked it

Kerry Bolton:

Konrad Lorenz, the father of the science of ethology, the study of animal instinct, gave a warning from an ecological viewpoint, that the abandonment of customs and traditions is steeped with dangers which are likely to be unforeseen. Culture is “cumulative tradition”. It is knowledge passed through generations, preserved as belief or custom. The deep wisdom accrued by our ancestors, because it might be wrapped in the protection of religions and myths, is discounted by the “modern” Kerry Bolton:

Konrad Lorenz, the father of the science of ethology, the study of animal instinct, gave a warning from an ecological viewpoint, that the abandonment of customs and traditions is steeped with dangers which are likely to be unforeseen. Culture is “cumulative tradition”. It is knowledge passed through generations, preserved as belief or custom. The deep wisdom accrued by our ancestors, because it might be wrapped in the protection of religions and myths, is discounted by the “modern” as “superstitious” and “unscientific”. Lorenz referred to the “enormous underestimation of our nonrational, cultural fund, and the equal overestimation of all that man is able to produce with his intellect” as factors “threatening our civilization with destruction”. “Being enlightened is no reason for confronting transmitted tradition with hostile arrogance”, stated Lorenz. Writing at a time when the New Left was rampant, as it is today under other names, Lorenz observed that the attitude of youth towards parents shows a great deal of “conceited contempt but no understanding”. Lorenz perceived a great deal of the psychosis of the Left as a pathogen in the social organism, as it remains today: “The revolt of modern youth is founded on hatred; a hatred closely related to an emotion that is most dangerous and difficult to overcome: national hatred. In other words, today’s rebellious youth reacts to the older generation in the same way that an ‘ethnic’ group reacts to a foreign, hostile one”.What is of interest is that Lorenz saw this as a youth subculture that was tantamount to a separate, foreign ethnos, when a group forms around its own rites, dress, manners and norms. In the biological sciences this is called “pseudospeciation”. With this new group identity comes a “corresponding devaluation of the symbols” of other cultural units.158 The obsession with all that is regarded as “new” among the youth revolt was described by Lorenz as “physiological neophilia”. While this is necessary to prevent stagnation, it is normally gradual and followed by a return to tradition. Such a balance however is easily upset.159 Fixation as the stage of neophilia in the psychology of individuals results in behavioural abnormalities such as vindictive resentment towards long-dead parents.
This lack of respect for tradition is aggravated by the breakdown of traditional social hierarchy, mass organisation and “a money-grabbing race against itself” that dominates the Late West.
Since Lorenz wrote of these symptoms of Western decay during the 1970s the Western social organism has increasingly fractured. There are now the presence, vastly greater than in Lorenz’s time, of actual ethnoi that have no attachment to the West, but maintain a great resentment. There is also further pseudospeciation among women in terms of radical feminism and “gays”, possessing their own manners, rites, dress, terms of speech, and even their own flags and other symbols. They are united in their hatred of the West, which is often denigrated as “white patriarchy”; with its symbols being torn down162 and its heroes ridiculed as “dead white males”.
*
+ Decay of the Megapolis
from the book The Decline and Fall of Civilisations ...more

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Oct 27, 2020 Alexandru rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Konrad Lorenz reușeste să surprindă destul de bine probleme cu care omenirea se confruntă și care sunt într-o oarecare măsură așa cum le-a prezis acesta acum mai bine de 50 de ani când a publicat cartea. Faptul că în ciuda surselor de informare mult reduse față de cele pe care le avem noi reușește să observe caracterul de dezvoltare al Statelor Unite ale Americii dar totodată al Europei arată că probleme de fond cu care ne confruntăm își au începutul mult mai devreme decât credeam și că va dura ...more

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Sep 16, 2019 Alexandra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sociologie

,,Credinţa eronată că doar ceea ce poate fi înţeles pe cale raţională ori, mai mult, doar ceea ce poate fi dovedit în mod ştiinţific ar face parte din tezaurul stabil de cunoştinţe al omenirii duce la consecinţe nefaste. „Iluminat ştiinţific", tineretul ajunge să nesocotească nepreţuita comoară conţinută în tradiţiile oricărei culturi vechi, precum şi în învăţăturile marilor religii ale lumii.
Cel care crede că toate acestea sunt lipsite de orice valoare cade totodată într-o altă greşeală nu mai ...more

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Jan 06, 2019 Ioana Ioana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: luminary, essays

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 1973, Our incredible collective stupidity

Hands down, the Romanian translation of this book was the worst I ever came across, considering I wasn’t in any pedantic disposition. Romanian readers, do yourself a favor and get the english version. I almost attributed the atrocious writing style to the author - big mistake on my part that became obvious once I switched to the EN edition. Who knows, maybe the translator is a living reincarnation of a once successful butcher.

The premise of the book has f ...more

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Mar 01, 2020 Mariann Komlós rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction-to-read, on-my-shelves

This book is amazing, and be honest - truly frightening. It was written in the 70s, and every single world of the author is more true now, in this brave new world of the 21st century.. He did not know the answers now, and we do not know them yet, but this book is one from many that more and more people should read and more importantly think about the ideas and theories in it. And the main point is on the thinking part..

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Jan 14, 2018 Constantin C. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Opinia eronată că omul ar putea isca din neant în mod calculat și rațional o nouă cultură, (...), duce la concluzia total greșită că soluția cea mai bună ar fi distrugerea totală a culturii părinților spre a face loc unei reconstrucții „creative“. Cine se gîndește în mod serios la aceasta va trebui însă să se întoarcă la omul precromagnon! (p. 84)

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Nov 07, 2018 Christina rated it it was amazing

Jeder sollte dieses Buch lesen.

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Dec 21, 2020 Nic Grosan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science, self-improvement, to-reread

Very good, appreciate 🙏

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Mar 03, 2019 Christopher Byram rated it liked it

I discovered this book from a video uploaded by the YouTube channel Way Of The World, who says that it is extraordinary accurate in pinpointing the decline of the West.

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Jan 10, 2018 BD rated it it was amazing

Shelves: got

This book was published in 1973, yet most of its remarks about society and technological advance are still spot on. Kind of weird that it is not that widely praised. Highly recommended.

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Feb 11, 2017 Ady ZYN rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: deep-knowledge

Recommended

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About Konrad Lorenz

Konrad Lorenz

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Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch. He is often regarded as one of the founders of modern ethology, developing an approach that began with an earlier generation, including his teacher Oskar Heinroth.
Lorenz studied instinctive behavior in animals, espec ...more