A journal review session took place on November 13, 2016, at the meeting room of Savar BRACU Campus. Ms. Rudmila Mahbub, faculty member of Ethics and Culture, discussed the article titled ‘Against Empathy’ by Paul Bloom.
Ms. Rudmila began with the author’s opinion that most people see the benefits of empathy as too obvious to require justification. This is a mistaken view because empathy is biased; we are more prone to feel empathetic towards people we are attracted to and for those who look like us or share our ethnic or national background. Moreover, empathy is narrow; it connects us to particular individuals, real or imagined, but it is insensitive to numerical differences and statistical data.
The writer argues that he is not against morality, compassion, kindness, love, being a good neighbor, doing the right thing, and making the world a better place, but he believes that if we want to be good and do good, empathy is a poor guide.
Referring to the author, Ms. Rudmila further explained how our public decisions will be fairer and more moral once we put empathy aside. Without empathy, we are better able to grasp the importance of vaccinating children and responding to climate change. Towards the end, she mentioned that empathetic arousal is not the only force that motivates kindness and put forward the author’s belief that being a good person is related to more distanced compassion, along with self-control, and a sense of justice.
After the discussion, several faculty members shared their opinions regarding the author’s arguments, which they foundd to be both strong and well-supported by logic.