Why Might some people choose this as a new approach to peace?
Written by: Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, University of Cambridge
First published at the Empathy Neuroscience Conference, Rome, October 15th 2017
"Empathy has great potential for conflict resolution, because empathy can do 3 things.
First, empathy allows each side to listen to the other, to hear what the causes of the conflict are, from the other side’s point of view, so that the causes are acknowledged and can be addressed. If deep hurts and resentments are not heard or acknowledged, they fester as low-level seething anger, or explode as high-level hate and fury.
Second, empathy means that apologies can be offered to those who have been hurt.
And finally, empathy means that each side stops dehumanizing the other side, and instead starts to get to know the person in the other community as a person, starts to treat the other party with respect for their feelings and aspirations, and creates the opportunity for friendship, not conflict."