André da Loba

Does Empathy Guide or Hinder Moral Action?

/ ew York Times | 29 Dec. 2016

Introduction

After a year of surprising election results and referendums, and violence in protests, terrorism and war, the term “empathy” has been cited by many as a key component to helping groups of people that have little in common, or disagree, come together. But does empathy actually increase the ability of opposing parties to understand each other better, or otherwise inform correct moral action? 

Debaters

• 
  Jamil Zaki
  Jamil Zaki, an assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University, is the lab director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Laboratory and founder of The People's Science. He is on Twitter (@zakijam).
• 
  Paul Bloom
  Paul Bloom, the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University, is the author, most recently, of "Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion." He is on Twitter (@paulbloomatyale).

[excerpts]

And it helps to be around it, because empathy, even toward one person, can jumpstart human care for larger groups. Many Americans opposed slavery before 1852, but "Uncle Tom’s Cabin," in shedding light on its horrors, moved millions and sparked a new momentum for abolitionism. In cases like this, empathy enlivens moral principles, making them urgent.

...But enshrining pure logic to guide morality is naïve. Even when people try to be objective, they often confirm what they want to believe. In our post-truth world, people can use reason like a shield, curling up in comfortable assumptions, surrounding themselves with others who amplify their biases. If people don’t want to broaden their empathy, they’ll probably use reason narrowly as well. [...]

Emotion and reason are also intertwined. People constantly think themselves into and out of feelings. Strong emotions can act like a psychological alarm system, drawing our consciousness toward whatever causes them. In the best cases, emotions help us reason better, by forcing us to consider new points of view.

Emotion is woven into the fabric of our minds and that's a good thing. Although feelings alone don’t make us good people, they are key ingredients in our moral lives.