This call to empathy is both common and understandable. In fact, it is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition. However, as I read article after article this summer calling the American Jewish community to show empathy for the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, I began to question the premise that a call to empathy is the correct starting place for ethical behavior.
First and foremost, I simply have doubts about the human capacity for empathy, for several reasons. First, religious and political leaders would not have to spend so much effort encouraging people to cultivate empathy if it were not on some level an unnatural, or at least difficult, accomplishment for humans. Second, there are good reasons for the human spirit to limit its capacity for empathy, especially in the modern world: true empathy, the ability to feel the feelings of others, would be utterly incapacitating in the face of the horrendous news that confronts us on a daily basis. And third, in many cases there is little incentive to cultivate empathy for others
You may also like
Culture of Empathy Builder: Anita Nowak http://j.mp/11wasU8 Empathic ActionWhat is Empathy?Cognitive Empathy – imaginativeAffective Empathy – feeling – cuddling baby storyEmpathy trumps, sympathy, pity, compassionAltruism continuum pit…
IT’S true. Your dog yawns when you do and the process is contagious, just as it is in humans.Scientists have found that pet dogs yawn significantly more in response to their owners than to strangers’ yawns. Dogs also respond less frequently to fak…
If we look under the surface of our children’s behavior, at how they might be feeling, we are often in a better position to get things back on track. How have you nurtured that talent of looking deep inside, understanding where a child’s behavior …
An international team led by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York has for the first time shown that one area of the brain, called the anterior insular cortex, is the activity center of human empathy, whereas other areas of the brai…