FLOURISH PROJECT - UNDERSTANDING HUMAN VIOLENCE (original) (raw)

Human beings are social animals. We are shaped by our relationships to others and to our environments and we are biologically wired to reach out and learn from these interactions. The debate around whether we have a built-in predilection for violence, however, has raged among scholars for centuries, and the answer is far from a foregone conclusion. It seems that we all carry forward the evolutionary possibility for violence, but that whether or not this is fulfilled, or evolves instead into contribution and cooperation, depends upon our unique genetic dispositions and environmental experiences. Fundamentally, it is about the quality of our relationships – to our Selves, Others and the Natural World.