Conflict Resolution 301

Portland State University

Mary Eng

for Amanda Byron

8-31-10

Conflict Resolution as a discipline is a new field for me. So far it seems to be an extremely

comprehensive and all permeating way of seeing the world and dealing with interpersonal and

intra-personal conflict. In my life as a philosophy student it was always necessary to question

every term and its presuppositions.

Embedded within the term conflict, is the presupposition that there is a state of tension,

turmoil, or a pulling between opposites. In the future of conflict resolution or transformation, I

think a a radical look at all presumptions at play may offer valuable insight. Is it fair to always

presume conflict? Is conflict a bad thing? Why does it scare people? As with the pull or stress of

the supports on a bridge, it is in conflict that there is strength. I think of the storm and stress in

German literature, sturm und drang, a time of the awakening of the individual's ability to respond

to political control.

What is called conflict might really actually be the balancing of powers between they that

were previously oppressed and the ruling hegemonies. As the formerly marginalized rise up,

and take power, so naturally would old authoritarian power structures crumble, and the old

guard might find “conflict” when what is occurring is actually an equalization. And therein what

might be perceived as conflict to old power networks, might be perceived as a liberation of

oppressed or colonized classes, or as an attempt toward reconciliation, dialogue, or balance.

Another problem inherent within the term “conflict resolution” is the presumption of conflict.

As a non-argumentative pacifist, I am startled often by how frequently others can interpret

an attempt at dialogue as conflict. What does this say about human beings? That we are

so deprived of communication that all we know is a state of war? That technology has both

enhanced and detracted from our communication skills? In any interaction, people bring their

needs to the table. In an evolutionary biological sense, we attempt to impress each other with
our survival skills. In this way, it might be seen that behind every purported “conflict” might be

a struggle for resources, or a stuggle to impress others with “fierceness” and primal survival

skills, or communication of historical identity, or mythicization of a sense of self. As ferocity

is necessary for survival, the instinct beyond the apparent glaze of “conflict” might actually be

a shared interest in community survival, leadership, preservation of resources. Conflict might

actually be seduction, or kinship, peerage. The tension offered within speakers of a language

towards demonstrating to each other their ferocity, could be interpreted more subliminally as

bonding rather than conflict.

Indeed as consciousness internationalizes, and as young people feel the way that we as

humans are so much all the same, we might begin to look at the wars of the world as a primitive

bonding experience, much like Facebook. And as we might transcend the power dynamics of

resource wars and realize that human consciousness is geared for survival, new methods of

peace might be waged. As human needs theory places a hierarchy on needs, and strangely

it is our most primal experience that places need for meaning and self-actualization on such

high footing. And in war, or conflict we feel meaning through adversity. We feel self-realization

through strength. The cathartic transformative effect gives humans self realization through

surviving struggle. So a high life-force might be recognized in individuals prone to conflict . . .

as that high life force engages the often under-challenged human intellect. So in a world based

on sensory deprivation and atmospheres devoid of intellectual stimulation suited for such highly

intelligent animals as ourselves, conflict might become a substitute for intellectual rigor.

The endocrinology of conflict must also be assessed. What is cortisol, when does it peak,

what are effects? In what way is adrenaline addicting? What hormonal spectrums effect

communication styles and tendencies towards genderization norms????? What cultural skills

manage the waters of conflict? How could an international approach synthesize the best of

many cultures, many disciplines?