obdurate

This term describes a specific type of stubbornness that is cold, hardened, and resistant to emotional appeals. It suggests a psychological rigidity where the individual is not merely determined, but actively impervious to persuasion, pity, or remorse. In a social or legal context, it often carries a negative connotation of callousness. While a person might be "stubborn" about a trivial preference, being "obdurate" implies a more severe, often moral or systemic refusal to yield, such as a criminal refusing to confess or a tyrant ignoring the pleas of the oppressed.