Interdisciplinary Inquiry into Creative Nonviolence In and After Violence: From Coexistence to Reconciliation
In the wake of violent histories and in the presence of ongoing dynamical structures of violence, is there still a possibility for just peace? There are many ways of denying this possibility, both implicit — through actions and statements whose harm we do not comprehend — and explicit. One positive way forward in engaging this question is to attend closely to communities embracing reconciliation amidst and after violence, communities aspiring to a just and lasting peace. This talk will draw on examples from a few of these communities and on recent interdisciplinary inquiry into just peacemaking and forgiveness, and the important roles empathy and imitatio have to play in working toward their development and formation. Steps on the way to this formation include models ranging from coexistence to reconciliation, all while recognizing the real witness of woundedness. Every step comes with an invitation to critically question deeply embedded architectures of mind and society, including ingroup vs. outgroup identity-driven empathy (“idempathy”), risk and ambiguity aversion, and the valuational separation of self and other.
Michael Spezio is a social neuroscientist whose research focuses on emotion, empathy, moral action, contemplative practice, and the development of mindfulness and virtue. In addition to experimental work, his interdisciplinary research includes philosophy of mind, moral philosophy and ethics, religious studies, and theology. He has been on the Scripps College faculty since 2007 and is currently visiting faculty at Caltech in affective and social neuroscience. He is co-editor of the 2011 Routledge Companion to Religion and Science and of the 2012 Theology and the Science of Moral Action, also from Routledge.