Against empathy by paul bloom7/1/2023 ![]() Bloom stresses a certain definition because he rightly points out that in common parlance the word has come to be synonymous with many concepts, such as morality, kindness, or the ability to feel another person’s pain - concepts which can be independent of each other depending on the context. ![]() ![]() By the end of the book the reader will likely feel the need to reassess the value of empathy, or at a minimum think that empathy, as Bloom defines it, is not the moral panacea that it is often presented as. While Against Empathy is only around 250 pages, it lays out its case succinctly and effectively. I put the book on my reading wish list and someone in my family was empathic enough about my prosaic interests to have it appear under the Christmas tree this year. ![]() Within an hour I was sold on the idea that this a priori unassailable virtue was in need of a dressing down. I first heard Paul Bloom’s contrarian arguments against the intrinsic moral value of empathy on Sam Harris’ podcast about a year ago. ![]()
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