%0 Journal Article %T Conocer para comprender la violencia: origen, causas y realidad %A Jim¨¦nez-Bautista %A Francisco %J Convergencia %D 2012 %I Universidad Aut¨®noma del Estado de M¨¦xico %X this article aims to analyze in greater detail the forms and kinds of violence, following the classifications made from peace research. in this paper we set out a summary of reasons, origins, forms, results, ambiguity of the word violence, but above all, the factors that determine the violent behavior of human beings: such as instinct, social learning, frustration, etc., which can be exploited as intellectual tools to induce human beings into understanding, harmony, and especially, the transformation of conflicts. following johan galtung, we try to clarify the types of violence: direct (verbal, psychological and physical); structural (poverty, repression, pollution, alignment, etc.); cultural (from ideas, norms, values, tradition, etc.), and/or symbolic (demonstrations by acts or rituals that give recognition to direct and structural violence). finally, noting that the central thesis of this paper is that "human being is conflictive by nature, but violent because of education and culture". this thesis is supported by defining three aspects: a) the meaning of violence (a typically human phenomenon, biologically free but psychologically voluntary); b) the manifestations of violence, and c) its possible taxonomy. %K aggression %K direct violence %K structural violence %K cultural and/or symbolic violence. %U http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S1405-14352012000100001&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en