HL CHAPTER 1 Other People’s Shoes

CHAPTER 1 Other People’s Shoes
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being against empathy is like being against kittens
Note:IMPARATO A MIE SPESE

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I am not against morality, compassion, kindness, love, being a good neighbor, being a mensch, and doing the right thing.
Note:COSA NN SIGNIFICA ESSERE CONTRO L EMPATIA

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Anger can drive a father to beat his infant son to death, but anger at injustice can transform the world.
Note:LA DOPPIEZZA DEGLI ALTRI SENTIMENTI SI XCEPISCE PIÙ FACILMENTE

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Robert Jay Lifton, in The Nazi Doctors, talks about the struggles of those who performed experiments on prisoners in concentration camps.
Note:L INTELLIGENZA DEGLI SCIENZIATI NAZI

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the pros and cons.
Note:SONO OVUNQUE

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One book on the topic lists nine different meanings
Note:DEF EMPATIA

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the act of coming to experience the world as you think someone else does.
Note:LA PRIVILEGIATA

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“sympathy.”
Note:IL NME DATOLE DA SMITH

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If your suffering makes me suffer, if I feel what you feel, that’s empathy
Note:CONTAGIO

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social cognition, social intelligence, mind reading, theory of mind, or mentalizing.
Note:SE SO CHE SOFFRI SENZA SOFFRIRE A MIA VOLTA

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involuntarily.
Note:SPESSO

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But empathy is more than a reflex. It can be nurtured,
Note:MA ANCHE

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empathy can be a choice.
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to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from us
Note:OBAMA NE STRESSA L IMPORTANZA

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Right now, there are over fifteen hundred books on amazon.com with empathy in their title or subtitle.
Note:L ARGOMENTO TIRA

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the lack of empathy that Americans—and particularly police officers—have with racial minorities.
Note:RECLAMATA PIÙ EMPATIA X LA PRESUNTA VITTIMA

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lack of empathy that many Americans have with the police, or with the victims of crimes.
Note:RECLAMATA PIÚ EMPATIA X IL PRESUNTO COLPEVOLE

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George Lakoff writes, “Behind every progressive policy lies a single moral value: empathy.
Note:A SINISTRA VA FORTISSIMO

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Jeremy Rifkin calls for us to make the “leap to global empathic consciousness,
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Emily Bazelon writes “The scariest aspect of bullying is the total lack of empathy”
Note:OVUNQUE L EMPATIA È LA CIRA

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diagnoses “a crisis of empathy
Note:LA DIAGNOSI DEL SOCIOLOGO

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Simon Baron-Cohen. For him, evil individuals are nothing more than people who lack empathy.
Note:IL CASO PIÙ ESTREMO

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the magic bullet of morality.
Note:L E PER MOLTI

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Empathy can make us care about a slave, or a homeless person, or someone in solitary confinement.
Note:LE VIRTÙ CURATIVE X LA SOCIETÁ

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I do not ask the wounded person how he feels. I myself become the wounded person.”
Note:IL MISTICISMO DI WALT WHITMAN

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“How would you feel if someone did that to you?”
Note:RIMPROVERO AL RAGAZZINO

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Every charity, every political movement, every social cause will use empathy to motivate
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the laboratory research, the cognitive neuroscience studies, the philosophical analyses, the research with babies and chimps and rats
Note:UNA FESTA INFINITA

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there are other possible motivations for good action.
Note:SPERO CHE CHIUNQUE LO AMMETTA

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you are walking by a lake and see a young child struggling in shallow water.
Note:DEVI SALVARLO! COME MOTIVARSI?

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imagine what it feels like to be drowning,
Note:PUÒ DARSI SIA UNA MOLLA

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But that is hardly necessary.
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we are capable of all sorts of moral judgments that aren’t grounded in empathy.
Note:JEE PRINTZ...FILOSOFO

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We disapprove of people who shoplift or cheat on their taxes, throw garbage out of their car windows, or jump ahead in line
Note:ANCHE SE NESSUNO DI SPECIFICO VIENE DANNEGGIATO

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One’s morality can be rooted in a religious worldview or a philosophical
Note:DUE FONTI ALTERNATIVE DI MORALITÀ

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worry that we are making the planet hotter
Note:UN PROBLEMA DOVE L EMPATIA È IMPOTENTE

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These worries have nothing to do with an empathic connection with anyone in particular
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there is no particular person to feel empathic toward
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“trigger warnings”
Note:ARGOMENTI A FAVORED FONDATI SULL EMPATIA. PROB UNA CATTIVA GUIDA

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trigger warnings as “‘empathetic correctness.’
Note:UNA DEFINIZIONE CHE CIRCOLAVA

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students are … refusing to read texts that challenge their own personal comfort.”
Note:IL GRAN RIFIUTO DELL OCCIDENTE BAMBOCCIONE.....IL PRIMATO DELL EMPATIA SULLA CONOSCENZA

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they rest on considerations that are long term, procedural, and abstract.
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students benefit from being challenged by new experiences.
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colleges and universities will divert attention from more important issues, such as better mental health care for students.
Note:ANCORA

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so this debate illustrates that there is more than one way to motivate moral concern.
Note:AD OGNI MODO IL DIBATTITO ILLUSTRA CHE NN ESISTE SOLO L EMPATIA

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empathy was more powerful than fairness, leading to a decision that most of us would see as immoral.
Note:ESPERIMENTI IN LABORATORIO DI DANIEL BATSON PSICOLOGO.E COME TRUCCO

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Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams,
Note:RACCONTA UNA STORIA INTERESSANTE

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Jason Baldwin, a man who was falsely imprisoned for many years
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webs of empathy, forays of imagination,
Note:QUEL CHE CI SI IMMAGINAVA

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faith in Christ.”
Note:LA RISPOSTA SPIAZZANTE DATA DALL INTERESSATO

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Zell Kravinsky,
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he then arranged to donate one of his kidneys
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[H]e puts his altruism in mathematical terms. Quoting scientific studies that show the risk of dying as a result of making a kidney donation to be only 1 in 4,000,
Note:UNO SI ASPETTEREBBE UN EMPATICO...INVECE UNA MENTALITÀ ANALITICA...

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motivated by their cold logic and reasoning, actually do more
Note:PETER SINGER PARLA DEI PIÙ GENEROSI

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To think otherwise is either to define empathy so broadly
Note:CONCLUSIONE...IN MORALE C È DELL ALTRO OLTRE E

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empathy versus religion
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empathy versus reason
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empathy versus more distanced compassion,
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if there is a conflict, then empathy should win.
Note:LA REPLICA DEI DIFENSORI ESTREDMI

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religious
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utilitarian,
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So how can we put empathy to the test? One way is to look at its consequences.
Note:COME GIUDICARE? E RENDE IL MONDO MIGLIORE?

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A young man has serious problems with drugs and gets arrested; his wealthy parents bail him out. Or they don’t;
Note:IL CALCOLO DELLE CONSEGUENZE È INCERTO

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A woman decides to have an abortion; a student cheats on an exam
Note:CASI DUBBI ONFINITI

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Similarly, if you save the drowning girl and she grows up to be a genocidal dictator and destroys the world,
Note:L INCERTEZZA È OVUNQUE

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how in Passau, Germany, in the winter of 1894, a four-year-old child playing tag fell through the ice of a frozen river and was rescued by a local priest named Johann Kuehberger—“a brave comrade” as a local paper described him. According to some sources, the child was Adolf Hitler.
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“consequentialism,”
Note:LA DOTTRINA CHE ENFATIZZA LA CONSEGUENZE

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Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and Henry Sidgwick,
Note:I SUOI PROFETI

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Peter Singer and Shelly Kagan.
Note:I NUOVI PROFETI

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principles,
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Kant
Note:IL SUO PROFETA

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There is an obvious moral difference between killing someone on purpose and killing someone through an unavoidable accident
Note:CHE LE CONSEG NN SIANO TUTTO SEMBRA OVVIO

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the gap between consequentialism and principle-based moral views might not be as large as it first seems.
Note:PRIMA OSSERVAZIONE SULLA DICOTOMIA

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Think about a rule like “Always stop at a red light.” In a sense this isn’t very consequentialist; when the road is clear
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Maybe we should think about “do not torture” in the same way:
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nobody denies that consequences also matter.
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So what are the consequences of empathy? Does it make the world a better place?
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It certainly looks like it.
Note:A PRIMA VISTA

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I feel his pain, I feel what it’s like to be bullied
Note:L ESEMPIO DEL BULLIZZATO

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Empathy is like a spotlight directing attention
Note:L EMPATIA SUONA L ALLARME

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It does poorly in a world where there are many people in need
Note:IL DIFETTO...NN ORDINA LE PRIORITÀ

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Further, spotlights only illuminate what they are pointed at, so empathy reflects our biases.
Note:I BIAS VANNO A NOZZE

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empathy distorts our moral judgments in pretty much the same way that prejudice does.
Note:EMPATIA E PREGIUDIZI....LA COPPIA ONATTESA

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focuses on specific individuals.
Note:L ERRORE DELL EMPATIA...IL PREGIUDIZIO FA L ERRORE OPPOSTO

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the murders of twenty children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
Note:LE STRAGI...UN NN EVENTO STATISTICO CHE ASSUME UN PESO SPROP...MA BASTEREBBE VERMICINO

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The town was inundated with so much charity that it added to their burden.
Note:ESEMPIO DI DISTORSIONE

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this sort of irrational and disproportionate response.
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we should empathize with billions of other people around the world, in Bangladesh and Pyongyang and the Sudan.
Note:ASSURDO...NN SI VA DA NESSUNA PARTE...RICATTO EMOTIVO

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If God exists, maybe He can simultaneously feel the pain and pleasure of every sentient being.
Note:NN SIAMO DIO....LA MISERICORDIA NN È IL NS STRUMENTO

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empathy really is a spotlight. It’s a spotlight that has a narrow focus,
Note:IL DIFETTO DELL EMPATIA

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empathy were simply silent when faced with problems involving large numbers,
Note:GRANDI NUMERI

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Empathy is particularly insensitive to consequences that apply statistically rather than to specific individuals.
Note:INSENSIBILE ALLA STATISTICA

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consider Willie Horton. In 1987 Horton, a convicted murderer, was released on furlough from the Northeastern Correctional Center in Massachusetts and raped a woman after attacking and tying up her fiancé. The furlough program came to be seen as a humiliating mistake on the part of Governor Michael Dukakis and was used against him by his opponents during his subsequent run for president. Yet the program may have reduced the likelihood of such incidents.
Note:UN TIPICO ERRORE ILLUSTRATO

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what really matters for kindness in our everyday interactions is not empathy but capacities such as self-control and intelligence and a more diffuse compassion.
Note:LODE AI SOSTITUTI DELL EMPATIA...PAZIENZA E COMPASSIONE

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who are high in empathy can be too caught up in the suffering of other people.
Note:ALTRO DIFETTO...TROPPO COINVOLTI

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Making children suffer temporarily for their own good is made possible by love, intelligence, and compassion, but yet again, it can be impeded by empathy.
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the capacity to understand what’s going on in other people’s heads,

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ALTRO TIPO DI EMPATIA

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Am I against this sort of “cognitive empathy” as well? I couldn’t be.
Note:EMPATIA OK

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a good moral agent requires an understanding of how people work.
Note:INFATTI

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If a student is doing poorly and I meet with him to tell him he’s failing, it’s just basic kindness to try to speak with him in a way that doesn’t cause excessive worry or embarrassment.
Note:ESEMPIO

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There has been a lot of debate, for instance, over whether judges should be chosen based in part on their capacity to empathize. Perhaps surprisingly, I think the answer is yes
Note:RILEVANTE ANCHE IN POLITICA

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But this understanding of the minds of others is an amoral tool, useful for effecting whatever goals you choose.
Note:EMPATIA AMORALE

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cognitive empathy,
Note:TIPICO DEL TERAPISTA

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morally neutral.
Note:E COGNITIVA

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empathy is related to compassion and concern, and sometimes the terms are used synonymously.
Note:OBIEZIONE

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compassion and concern are more diffuse than empathy.
Note:LA DIFFERENZA.... COMPASSIONE...AMORE X L UOMO....EMPATIA...AMORE X QUELL UOMO

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empathy for the millions of victims of malaria,
Note:UN ASSURDO

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perfectly normal to say that you are concerned about them or feel compassion for them.
Note:NORMALE

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More empathic people are kinder and more caring and more moral. This proves that empathy is a force for good.
Note:OBIEZIONE 2

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this claim about the relationship between empathy and certain good traits is an empirical
Note:EMPIRIA

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it turns out that the relationship between empathy and goodness is weak.
Note:RISULTATI

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high empathy for the suffering of others can paralyze people,
Note:PARALISI DA EMPATIA

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People who lack empathy are psychopaths, and those are the worst people in the world. So you need empathy.
Note:TERZA OB

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this is also the sort of thing that you can test in the lab, and it turns out to be unsupported. As we’ll see, the problems with psychopaths may have more to do with lack of self-control
Note:TEST E RISULTATI

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There might be aspects of morality that don’t ultimately involve empathy, but empathy is at the core of morality. Without it, there is no justice, fairness, or compassion.
Note:TERZA OB

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Think about your judgments about throwing garbage out of your car window, cheating on your taxes, spraying racist graffiti on a building, and similar acts with diffuse consequences. You can appreciate that these are wrong without having to engage in empathic engagement with any specific individuals,
Note:NN È SEMPLICEMENTE VERO

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We can’t feel compassion without first feeling emotional empathy,
Note:QUELLO CHE SOSTENGONO MOLTI

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I see a child crying because she’s afraid of a barking dog. I might rush over to pick her up and calm her, and I might really care for her, but there’s no empathy there. I don’t feel her fear, not in the slightest.
Note:SBAGLIATO CONTROESEMPI

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feeling empathy for another person is very different from feeling compassion
Note:L UOMO E QUELL UOMO

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But don’t you need some sort of emotional push to motivate you to be a good person? Cold reason isn’t enough.
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Reason,” David Hume famously said, is the “slave of the passions.”
Note:IL RIFERIMENTO

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The “passions” that Hume talks about can be many things. They can be anger, shame, guilt, or, more positively, a more diffuse compassion, kindness, and love.

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PRIMA CONSIDERAZ

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Empathy can be used for good. There are cases where our expansion of empathy has led to positive changes. Every moral revolution, from antislavery to gay rights, has used empathy as a spark, and it’s used as well in everyday acts of kindness.
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Empathy can be used to support judgments and actions
Note:NESSUNO LO NEGA

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Empathy is used as a tool by charitable organizations, religious groups, political parties, and governments, and to the extent that those who spark this empathy have the right moral goals, it can be a valuable force.
Note:ESEMPI

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While I think empathy is a terrible guide to moral judgment,
Note:MA...TESI DEL LIBRO

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I sent out a postcard (this was before the Web) to an international aid agency, asking for information as to how I could support their cause. I remember opening the package they sent me and expecting to see information about what they were up to—statistics and graphs and the like. But they were smarter than that. They sent me a child. A small photograph,
Note:ESPERIENZA XSONALE

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this is the life you will save.”
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And it worked: Many years later we were still sending money to that child’s family.
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consider a recent study by Abigail Marsh and her colleagues, of people who choose to donate their kidneys to strangers. Consistent with my argument, these exceptionally altruistic individuals do not score higher on standard empathy tests than normal people.
Note:NN SOLO EMPATIA...REPETITA JUVANT

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The researchers were interested in the amygdala
Note:GLI PSICOPATH CE L HANNO PICCOLA

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these neural differences are causes, not consequences, and your early sensitivity
Note:FISIOLOGIA...CAUSA O EFFETTO?

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One could write a book recounting the good things that arise from empathy. But this is a limited argument in its defense. There are positive effects of just about any strong feeling. Not just empathy but also anger, fear, desire for revenge, and religious fervor
Note:COSA EVITARE

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Consider racism.
Note:ANCHE IL RAZZISMO PUÒ MOTIVARE X IL BENE. È FORSE SUFFICIENTE

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One has to show that the good that racism does outweighs the bad
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novels like Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Bleak House prompted significant social change by guiding readers to feel the suffering of fictional characters. But we tend to forget that other novels push us in different ways.
Note:UN PARALLELO

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For every Uncle Tom’s Cabin there is a Birth of a Nation. For every Bleak House there is an Atlas Shrugged.
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Every single one of these fictions plays on its readers’ empathy:
Note:BENE E MALE

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one might agree that empathy is on the whole unreliable yet still argue that we should exploit people’s empathy for good causes. I have some sympathy with this position, but I worry about the racism analogy.
Note:UNA TESI

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there are other ways to change people’s minds. We can, for example, use the truth.
Note:VIA ALTERNATIVA

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You’ve mentioned all sorts of alternatives to empathy. But don’t these also suffer from limitations and bias?
Note:7 OBIEZIONE

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Compassion is biased; concern is biased; and even cost-benefit reasoning is biased.
Note:TUTTO È BIASED

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But there is a continuum here. On the one extreme is empathy. This is the worst.
Note:E È IL PEGGIO

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We do best when we rely on reason. Michael Lynch defines reason as the act of justification and explanation
Note:RAGIONE

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But you just admitted that we’re sometimes bad at reasoning. And many psychologists and philosophers would go further and say that we are terrible at it, so much so that we are better off relying on our gut feelings, including empathy.
Note:8 OBOEZIONE

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the problem here is with reasoning badly, not with reason itself.
Note:PRECISIAMO

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Even the fans of moral emotions implicitly grant priority to reason. If you ask them why they think so highly of empathy (or compassion or pity or anything else), they won’t just insist, they won’t scream or weep or try to bite you. Rather they’ll make arguments.
Note:PRIMATO DELLA RAGIONE

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one way my psychologist and philosopher friends might deal with this tension is to claim that most people are incapable of rational deliberation. But they themselves—and those they are writing for, you and me—are the exceptions.
Note:ÊLITE

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it’s worth, it doesn’t match my own experience.
Note:REAZIONE

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To put it differently, I’ve met people who are stubborn, biased, purposely obtuse, slow on the uptake, suspicious of disagreement, and absurdly defensive—actually, I am very often exactly this kind of a person—but I’ve never met anyone who was insensitive to data and argument in the moral realm and
Note:IL FATTO SENSIBILIZZA TUTTI

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We reason best when we have help, and certain communities help reason to flourish. Scientific inquiry is the finest example
Note:INCORAGGIARE SERVE

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To say that psychological research shows that empathy is a poor moral guide entails some judgments about what’s actually right and wrong.
Note:CI BASEREMO SU QUESTIONI NN CONTROVERSE

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if you were instead to say, “So what? Who cares about the death of children?” or “There is no difference between one child dying and twenty children dying,” then we don’t share enough common ground to proceed.
ESEMPIO...DI COMMON GROUND