Why I’m against empathy | Paul Bloom

This interview is an episode from The Well, our new publication about ideas that inspire a life well-lived, created with the John Templeton Foundation.

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Empathy is a poor moral guide. The reason is because we naturally feel the most empathy for the people who look, speak, and behave just like us.

While empathy — that is, putting ourselves in another person's shoes and feeling what they feel — is certainly good in many cases, it's not always the appropriate response to a situation.

Instead of empathy, we should practice rational compassion.

Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/the-well/why-empathy-is-bad/

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About Paul Bloom:
Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology at Yale University. An internationally recognized expert on the psychology of child development, social reasoning, and morality, he has won numerous awards for his research, writing, and teaching. Bloom’s previous books include Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil and How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like, and he has written for Science, Nature, The New York Times, and The New Yorker.

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