Each disputant must feel that they own the process of conflict resolution and that ownership will give a feeling of success to the most marginal of resolutions. There are many choices in how conflict resolution can proceed. Whether conflict is personal or professional, local or global, we need insights to help us become better conflict resolvers. The field of philosophy helps give conflict resolvers helpful insights. The difference between general cases of conflict and specific cases of conflict is that actual cases may have unique features that defy generalization.
Conflict can surprise the most experienced conflict resolver.
No matter how much experience a conflict resolver may have, the next conflict may have new and unique features that defy all of the theories and generalizations that a conflict resolver might learn. This does not make the situation hopeless. Rather, this means that conflict is an opportunity for everyone to learn, whether they be disputants, or conflict resolvers, or both. The somewhat mysterious nature of conflict requires humility on the part of the conflict resolver. This humility, in the form of openness, allows the conflict resolver to listen for novel ways of working with disputants.