Emotionally charged discussions – an opportunity to shape the future and transition?

This was the question posed by Prof. Dr. Maren Urner, neuroscientist, author and professor of transformation design, during an online conference organised by the Mouvement Ecologique with 93 participants to provide new food for thought for overcoming the current crises.
The figures on the climate and biodiversity crisis are now widely known and are taken up both in specialist publications and in the mass media, and are part of school programmes and social discourse. In addition, the direct and indirect consequences are being felt more and more directly by a growing number of people. Nevertheless, the necessary changes to individual and collective behaviour and our social structures are progressing too slowly.
This is where Prof Dr Maren Urner brings feelings into play by using the findings of neuroscience to reduce to absurdity the popular appeals for a separation between rationality and emotionality:
“We act as if we humans are homo economicus who only act rationally. This idea that it would be possible to separate emotions rationality and facts from one another – that is wrong (…). It is only because we have convictions, values and feelings that we are able to decide in favour of or against something.”
In order to improve socio-political discussions, Urner suggests not suppressing emotions, but consciously reflecting on them and bringing them into the dialogue. This promotes a deeper understanding of different perspectives and can help to defuse conflicts and find common solutions.
Here are three approaches to action taken directly from Prof Dr Urner’s new book “Radikal emotional – Wie Gefühle Politik machen”:
Radical awareness – consciously dealing with our emotions as the first step towards emotional maturity
We are all pretty much “emotionally illiterate” – we can only clearly name a fraction of our emotions (in studies it is only joy, sadness and anger on average), although the range is much wider. Dealing with this variety of emotions is not taught anywhere. In addition, there is a very strong judgement – negative emotions are frowned upon by society as a whole and are often suppressed.
Prof Dr Maren Urner emphasises that there are no “good” and “bad” emotions, but that the way we deal with these emotions, such as anger or fear, is positive or negative. A well-known image from emotion research is that of emotions that you try to push under water like balls – this can work occasionally, but if it happens permanently, the emotions eventually erupt in a much stronger and more explosive way.
While an attitude that is “against” everything is very simple from an emotional and cognitive point of view, it is currently strongly represented. However, this attitude quickly leads to a feeling of powerlessness and increases frustration and anxiety. Here, Urner invites us to ask ourselves more about “what” we actually stand for: This takes a little more cognitive energy, but enables us to mobilise our imagination, which in turn activates the reward centre of our brain.
Prof Dr Urner provides further insights from the neurosciences: “This is what defines us as a species: we are a cooperative species. The urge to be understood and thus recognised by other people plays a very, very important role.”
Radical honesty – better stories as the basis for our coexistence
When exchanging ideas in our societies, it is important to scrutinise the “stories”, i.e. the fundamental definitions that determine how we live together, such as “normality” and “success”, and to renew them if necessary. Collectively, we are still operating on the basis of a “normal state” that has long since ceased to exist: for example, products that are very much part of our “normal” daily routine, such as coffee or orange juice, are already very much under threat from climatic and biological changes.
Another important component of social exchange is success or power. Every human interaction is characterised by a power imbalance, whereby this power is still very concentrated and is reinforced and anchored by material symbols. In 2025, for example, most decisions that affect a very large number of people will still be made by men, who on average have a lower level of emotional maturity, which leads to increased conflict.
However, our strength lies in the emotional and social skills that enable us to function together as a group. In the course of our evolutionary history, humans have lost muscle mass and built up brain mass, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for cooperation and emotional connections.
The ability to organise ourselves collectively has given us a decisive advantage over other species and is still an essential aspect of dealing with crises today. However, cooperation is only possible in the long term to the extent that our “stories” are adapted to new circumstances and power structures are renewed.
Radical connectedness – overcoming false structures and divisions together
The current structures promote the destruction of the foundations of our societies. Here, as with a Jenga tower , the progressive elimination of individual important elements of the system threatens to cause the whole thing to collapse.
The persistence of false structures is again made possible by false stories and unnatural separations – Prof Dr Urner mentions the separation between the rational “head” and the emotional “heart” between politics and private life. This last separation seems just as little “natural” as the one between emotion and reason: every decision that a person makes is always a political decision because it affects our life together – for example, our health is a highly private, but at the same time very political issue.
Ultimately, the pressure that is often repeated in politics to choose between the economy and the planet as the basis of our lives is actually impossible: without the basis of life, there can be no economy. So the economy cannot destroy this basis of life without ultimately dragging itself into the abyss.
With these approaches, Prof Dr Urner provides perspectives for action that can make it possible to break out of deadlocked discussion patterns and show people more perspectives for dealing with the crises of our time.
It shows concrete examples of how an approach based on collectively finding a “what for” leads to solutions that enable joint action by very different groups: for example, it was the desire in Dutch society for safe roads for children that made the massive expansion of the bicycle network possible.
One last tip from Prof Dr Urner to spare yourself and use your energy where it is productive: “Don’t argue with the stink-boots of this world, you’ll lose your time. Look at the people who are still open to new ideas, not the vociferous minority, but the undecided.”
The link to the video recording of this conference will be sent to you by email secretariat@meco.lu.
17.01.25