19 January to 26 January

Empathy and the image of the other in war

The idea that killing is wrong is pretty common, especially among people for whom war has never been a daily and present reality. We have an idea of the kind of person we are and want to be, and usually that does not include the thought that we might kill others. This is one manifestation of the 'respect for others' that seems to be a shared moral value in many parts of the world. During a recent conference on Imaging War in Vadstena, Sweden, I raised questions about what needs to happen to unsettle this belief; to change people who thought killing was wrong, into people who are prepared to kill.

Perhaps the natural will to defend oneself and one's loved ones, that seems likely to arise if one's family and friends were attacked, is enough to change peaceful people into warriors. Though, like many people of my generation, I think of myself at least as an 'aspiring pacifist', I can certainly imagine extreme situations in which I could bring myself to act violently. Surely, however, the ghastly things that happen during war must depend on something more fundamental - on changes to the images of the 'other' entertained by combatants?

Gavin Fairbairn, Running Stream Professor of Ethics and Language, School of Applied Global Ethics