What is it about?
In a tumultuous world where populism is on the rise as the result of an enraged, disenchanted, misguided and susceptible populace, empathy, one of the most vital of our moral virtues, is in serious jeopardy. Fear, prejudice and the rise of the extreme right has provoked a number of nay-sayers to draw our attention to what they believe to be the darker side of empathy, its biases and its vulnerability to subversion. This paper examines empathy, what it is, how it feels, the neural and environmental basis for its development, our moral obligation to nurture it in our children and how it may be induced in the case of empathy deficiencies. It considers the influences of gender and hormones on the expression of empathy and its relationship with sympathy and compassion. Also discussed are the properties of empathy as a motivational, socioemotional mechanism, that evokes kindness, caring, compassion and understanding in each of us, and its potential to neutralize the negativism, cruelty, violence and aggression, so prevalent in the world today.
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Why is it important?
What a dangerous, unfeeling place the world would be without empathy. It would be a dangerous, unfeeling abode, devoid of emotion and compassion; a sad, isolating and violent place in which no one would feel safe, and in an even greater state of chaos and suffering than it is now. Empathy, by its very nature, leads to increased trust, forgiveness and support; it evokes compassion, enhances attachment and interpersonal relationships and motivates us to behave socially. Unless our lives are marked by mutual kindness, respect, and time taken to understand each other, we miss opportunities to enjoy the ensuing sense of common duty and common interests which arise when we work together as a team for the common good. Without taking time to understand each other, our lives have less meaning, there arises ignorance, misunderstanding, prejudice, racism, fear, conflicting perspectives, resentment and sometimes even violence. Empathy is under threat in our increasingly nationalistic, xenophobic society. We have lost sight of the nature of our interdependence as a global family. We need to make space for empathy in the world and nurture it in our children. The ability to perceive others’ intentions and emotions and to learn from their experiences is critical to the survival of our humanity.
Perspectives
I was moved to write this paper as the result of the "Empathy Wars" and a series of discussions that ensued as a result of works by Paul Bloom (Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Yale University) and Jesse Prinz (Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Committee for Interdisciplinary Science Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New Your) who view empathy through a cynical lens. Bloom believes empathy to be destructive, corrosive and too emotional and that it gets in the way of rational decision making and blinds us to the larger problems of the world. If this is true, how do we explain the massive public outpouring in response to world disasters like earthquakes, tornados, floods, forest fires, tsunamis and the refugee crisis? There is no hard evidence to prove that when we demonstrate empathy for one small child for example, we are blinded to the greater problems of the world. There is little doubt that empathic people remain fully aware of the world’s intractable problems. Both Bloom and Prinz point to the biased nature of empathy and that we reserve it for "our own group". While it is true that we are more likely to empathize within our own social groups, there is empirical evidence that we still feel empathy for strangers but in a different form. Bloom also points to empathy's vulnerability to subversion although studies show that empathy is likely not the culprit here, but, like love, it may be corrupted by the way it is used. There is an empathy deficit in the world today. It comes as no surprise then, that empathy, one of the most vital of our moral virtues, is in serious jeopardy. No matter its genesis, empathy is intrinsic in each of us whether it is alive or dormant, whether it has been nurtured or neutralized. Some people may choose, or be persuaded, to ignore it; hopefully, the rest of us will listen to our hearts, hear our inner voices and allow empathy to move us to compassion. To call upon our inborn capacity to feel for one another, can only be to any society’s advantage. Empathy makes the world a better, kinder place and each of us has a moral obligation to preserve it.
Irene Gregory Wilkinson
Institute of Biomedical Sciences
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: In Praise of Empathy: The Glue that holds Caring Communities Together in a Fractured World, January 2019, University of Alberta Libraries,
DOI: 10.29173/cjfy29415.
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