Cover not available
Part of
Developing New Identities in Social Conflicts: Constructivist perspectives
Edited by Esperanza Morales-López and Alan Floyd
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 71] 2017
► pp. 67–82

Chapter 4
Understanding social conflict

Reason or emotion?

Historically social conflicts, and in general human conflicts, have been considered as domains of reasoning, treating their solutions in the context of searching for the best explanations from the point of view of the supposition of an objective reality. In this manner, we human beings have failed to resolve social conflicts; at best we have changed their form. In this paper, I will deal with conflicts from an epistemological standpoint, which is grounded in an understanding of the biological-cultural matrix of the human existence.

Keywords: human beings, emotions, reason, language, conversations, social conflicts, mutual respect, ethics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The social nature of human beings
  • 3.Emotions
  • 4.Explanations: Searching for Truths?
  • 5.Conversations
  • 6.Conflicts
  • 7.Final remarks: Reflection
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 26 July 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.71.04ram
References
Bateson, Gregory
1987 Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology. New Jersey: Jason Aronson Inc.Google Scholar
Capra, Fritjof
1996 La Trama de la Vida. Una Nueva Perspectiva de los Sistemas Vivos. Barcelona: Anagrama.Google Scholar
Dávila, Ximena Y.
2011 “Liberating Conversations.” Constructivist Foundations 6 (3): 381–387.Google Scholar
Eisler, Riane T.
1987 The Chalice and the Blade: our History, our Future. Cambridge Mass.: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
1995 Sacred pleasure: Sex, myth, and the politics of the body. San Francisco, Ca: Harper.Google Scholar
Gimbutas, Marija
1974 The Gods and Goddesses of Old Europe, 7000 to 3500 BC: Myths, Legends and Cult Images. London: Thames and Hudson.Google Scholar
Maturana, Humberto
1970 “Biology of Cognition.” BCL Report 9.0. Biological Computer Laboratory. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois.Google Scholar
1974 “Cognitive Strategies.” In Unity and Diversity of Man, ed. by Edgar Morin and Maximo Pistelli-Palmarini, 6–15. Paris: Le Seuil.Google Scholar
1975 “The Organization of the Living: A Theory of the Living Organization.” The International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 7: 313–332. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1978 “Biology of Language: The Epistemology of Reality.” In Psychology and Biology of Language and Thought, ed. by George Miller and Eric Lenneberg, 27–63. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
1988 “Reality: The Search for Objectivity or the Quest for a Compelling Argument.” Irish Journal of Psychology (issue on Constructivism) 9 (1): 25–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1990 “Science and Daily Life: The Ontology of Scientific Explanations.” In Self organization: Portrait of a Scientific Revolution, ed. by W. Krohn and G. Kuppers, 3–5. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
2000 “The Nature of Laws of Nature.” Systems Research and Behavioral Science 17: 459–468. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maturana, Humberto and Dávila, Ximena Y.
2013 “Systemic and Meta-systemic Laws.” ACM Interactions XX (3): 6.Google Scholar
2015 El Árbol del Vivir. Santiago de Chile: MVP editores.Google Scholar
Maturana, Humberto, Dávila, Ximena Y. and Ramírez Muñoz, Simón
2016 “Cultural-Biology: Systemic Consequences of Our Evolutionary Natural Drift as Molecular Autopoietic Systems.” Foundations of Science: 21 (4): 631–678. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Maturana, Humberto and Mpodozis, Jorge
2000 “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Drift.” Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 73: 261–310.Google Scholar
Maturana, Humberto and Varela, Francisco
1980 Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living. Boston: Riedel Publishing Co. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1988 The Tree of Knowledge. Boston: Shambhala New Science Library.Google Scholar
Maturana, Humberto and Verden-Zöller, Gerda
1993 Amor y Juego. Fundamentos Olvidados de los Humano. Santiago de Chile: J. C. Sáez Editor.Google Scholar
2008 The Origin of Humanness in the Biology of Love. Charlottesville, VA: Imprint Academic.Google Scholar