ABSTRACT
Writers on pacifism and nonviolence share an implicit assumption that to become nonviolent, as societies, groups, or individuals, is actually possible. Historical determinism has been buttressed by biological positivistic frameworks that have suggested that the human animal is, in fact, hardwired for aggression and violence and no amount of wishful thinking will change that fact of nature. This chapter suggests that the possibility of becoming nonviolent is a warranted assumption based on recent studies in the psychology of peace that humanity has the potentiality and resourcefulness for empathy and nonviolence, and that a spiritual practice of the habituation of nonviolence suggests a realistic hope for a nonviolent future. In common with the dominant historical narrative, sociobiology has suggested that humanity is biologically determined to be violent. Nonviolent culture in its turn, through education and socialization, reinforces the hope of a more nonviolent, and less violent, future.
