The evolutive dimension of conflict resolution: contributions from behavioral sciences and the analysis of animal behavior to inquiries about peace
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JACPR-10-2021-0643 |
| Published date | 14 April 2022 |
| Date | 14 April 2022 |
| Pages | 85-94 |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Aggression,conflict & peace,Sociology,Gender studies,Gender violence,Political sociology,policy & social change,Social conflicts,War/peace |
| Author | Ángela Karina Ávila Hernández |
The evolutive dimension of conflict
resolution: contributions from behavioral
sciences and the analysis of animal
behavior to inquiries about peace
Ángela Karina Ávila Hern
andez
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is return to some findings and approaches typical of behavioral
sciencesand evolutionary anthropology that willallow us to link the process of self-domesticationthat can
be seen in our evolutionary past, the primatetendency to enter into conflicts through patterns of signal
exchangerather than direct aggressions, and thedevelopment of the persuasive dimensionof language,
with the possibleevolutionary origin of both culturalviolence and structural violence.
Design/methodology/approach –The approach has been, at all times, multidisciplinary insofar as it
has sought to elucidate how the inquiries made from the behavioral sciences can help to understand
human violence.
Findings –What was found is the possibilityof understanding conflicts as a mechanism of evolutionary
pressure that has been involvednot only in social restructuring but also in the evolutionary origin of the
human being.
Research limitations/implications –More empiricalevidence should be found in this regard.
Originality/value –This study is a multidisciplinary approach that seeks to understand both the
phenomenonof violence and peace from an evolutionaryperspective.
Keywords Peace, Conflicts, Evolutionary perspective, Humanaggression, Behavioral sciences,
Peace philosophy
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
According to Corte
´s-G
omez (2017), at least three different modelsof analysis can be traced
within the investigations for peace. The first of them is the one with the longest history and
has focused its reflection on what is known as negative peace. This term refers to the
possibility of defining peace based on the absence of war and/or conflicts. A second model
would be that of positive peace, whichseeks to state the conditions that affect the existence
of peaceful coexistence and, therefore, those that must be sought when creating a culture
for peace. Within this model are the reflections carried out by Galtung within the framework
of the Institute for Peace Research in Oslo. Finally, the analysis model that has been
developed more recently is known as Philosophyof Peace and is part of the UNESCO Chair
of the same name established at the JaumeI University.
Within this last model, what constituted the main themes of the previous models is retaken,
to call it somehow, although from a new perspective. For example, within these inquiries it
can be found that far from insulting conflicts, or proclaiming the need for their
disappearance as a necessary condition for peace, they see “the productive dimension of
A
´ngela Karina A
´vila
Hern
andez is based at the
Departament of Philosophy,
Instituto de Estudios
Superiores de Tamaulipas
Red de Universidades
An
ahuac, Altamira, Me
´xico
and Departament of
Philosophy, Centro
Universitario de Ciencias
Sociales y Humanidades,
Universidad de
Guadalajara, Guadalajara,
Me
´xico.
Received 6 October 2021
Revised 1 March 2022
Accepted 9 March 2022
The author thank the National
Council of Science and
Technology CONACYT for the
funds granted for the postdoc
that is attributed as a condition
of possibility for this paper.
DOI 10.1108/JACPR-10-2021-0643 VOL. 15 NO. 2 2023, pp. 85-94, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1759-6599 jJOURNAL OF AGGRESSION, CONFLICT AND PEACE RESEARCH jPAGE 85
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