Robert,

Instead of the myopic view, how about if we examine the accomplishments of Harvard Medical School alone, and gauge that against the alleviation of guilty conscience by the entitled Harvard students and staff with their flawed but inconsequential support of Palestinians.

It’s consequential to hard science when some of it’s best students…[Read more]

Simon,

It may or may not be a godawful book, but I think it’s an interesting question to ask what it’s like for some totally different organism to experience the world.

An interesting question, but all for naught if we couldn’t communicate and share the answer. Again, this is the kind of stuff that encourages hatred of philosophy as empty egg…[Read more]

Saving Private Ryan. Spielberg special. Still remember watching that and feeling sick to my stomach.

Far left. Far right. Without data to corroborate but i think it is a good bet far left is better educated than far right. Less conviction but perhaps higher in empathy as well. And yet i am not sure whether it is the lefties or the MAGA who are…[Read more]

Triggering empathy is a Spielberg specialty. Most of us are running the same basic software (if you are not a sociopath). The thing is, I am never a fan of having people take pity on others if there is nothing they can or will do to really help. In fact, it results in the most helpless of feelings having to look up at “empath”, shaking their head…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:

Mirror neurons and other neural junk whose name(s) escapes me and neural pathways are activated when something observed causes alarm or joy/ecstasy. If one is high in empathy watch a movie and start crying or repulsing the automatic response to some tear jerker shit. Zeus ex machina or some shit.

That would be emotional…[Read more]

TheEncogitationer wrote:

If you want to numb somebody’s sense of empathy, as well as any love of philosophical thought, just have them read that essay, as well as the others in Nagel’s What Does It All Mean?

It may or may not be a godawful book, but I think it’s an interesting question to ask what it’s like for some totally different organism to…[Read more]

Reg,

What is it like to be a Bat?

If you want to numb somebody’s sense of empathy, as well as any love of philosophical thought, just have them read that essay, as well as the others in Nagel’s What Does It All Mean?

I had to read that in a philosophy class with several other majors and to a class member, everyone was totally nonplussed by it!…[Read more]

Strega wrote:

Empathy is informed sympathy

I think that’s a good description, if you mean informed emotional resonance.  Empathy has three components: cognitive perspective taking, emotional resonance, and empathic concern or compassion.

A psychopath can have empathy in the sense of cognitive perspective taking; but they can’t do emotional…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:

_Robert_ wrote:

If empathy is what it takes for us to do the right things, that’s great. However, the dichotomous situation of living standards always throws me for a loop.

In a recent Facebook post answering a person who likes to remind leftists like me that the Democrats were very keen on the KKK and it was a Republican who f…

[Read more]

_Robert_ wrote:

If empathy is what it takes for us to do the right things, that’s great. However, the dichotomous situation of living standards always throws me for a loop.

In a recent Facebook post answering a person who likes to remind leftists like me that the Democrats were very keen on the KKK and it was a Republican who freed the slaves, I…[Read more]