The heart and the dispute

This is a series of posts that I did in August 2023 on the theme of the heart.

1. Courage

The word “courage” derives (via medieval French) from the Latin “cor” meaning “heart”.

In the Old Testament, the bravest soldier is described as having the heart of a lion, an epithet later given to Richard I of England after his exploits on the Crusades.

In disputes we must take heart, in the sense of having courage, because we must always deal to some extent with the unknowable. Both human analysis and efforts to digitize justice encounter the conceptual gap between the past and the present, from precedents to current facts, from subjective client meetings to objective hearings. There’s a leap to be made from what we know to what we try to predict.

The ultimate symbol of dispute resolution might be the heart.

2.????Concordia

Two other words deriving from the Latin word “cor” (meaning “heart”) are concord and discord. Literally, our hearts are joined, or are separated.

The heart was for a long time regarded as the seat of the emotions: not only love but fear and hope and all the other feelings. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, advancements in medical science promoted the different view of the heart as a biological pump (which can be replaced by something mechanical, an artificial heart) and the brain as the generator of emotions, via biochemicals.

But in recent decades there has been a greater appreciation of the ways in which these two interact. Lowered blood pressure calms the mind. On the other hand, stress and social disconnection are seen as contributing to heart attacks, along with physical factors such as smoking and obesity. We can truly die of a broken heart.

We feel our disputes, and they have a physical impact on us. They tear at our hearts. But we can mend with the aid of Concordia, the Roman goddess of agreement. Common feelings breed contentment and peace.

3.????Heart of the Matter

"If one knew, he wondered, the facts, would one have to feel pity even for the planets? If one reached what they called the heart of the matter?"

Graeme Greene’s novel, “The Heart of the Matter”, concerns secrets, and lies, and the central character’s search for meaning. We call the irreducible core of something, stripped of all artifice and exposed to the world, its heart. And it takes effort to reach this centre.

In the human body, the heart was for a long time inaccessible. Not only is it protected by the rib cage, but it has a function that cannot be stopped, even temporarily for repairs, or else the rest of the body dies. More than that, the heart was for much of human history regarded as inviolable: something that could not be cut into because that would damage the very essence of the person.

Modern science, however, with tools and machines, has allowed surgeons access to the heart so that they can operate on it in a manner that was unimaginable to our ancestors. And that has brought to light new mysteries about how the heart works, which science continues to grapple with.

In a dispute process we work towards an overall goal of resolution but also towards the key point in each party’s eyes - whether that is truth, or morality, or economic equilibrium. As we move forward, with effort, we uncover more layers. We approach the heart of the matter.

#disputeresolution #litigation #arbitration #mediation #adr #law

Pictures by Nicola Fioravanti, Alexandru Acea and Merch Husey on Unsplash