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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 13, 2011 2:19 PM
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The insight, or inter-sight, of empathy is not a political act in the usual way we think of politics as competitive jockeying for power. It is something that takes place on a deeper level, within and between individual people. It requires the sharing of separate stories that take their place in the common story of what everyone wants for their children — a world without genocidal weapons, drug violence, militarism, or financial institutions that have forgotten their obligation to the common good. Empathy as a principle can seep into politics as a refusal to take sides, a refusal to define ourselves negatively in terms of whom we fear and hate, an embrace of global citizenship that looks for what is best for the whole. by Winslow Myers
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 11, 2011 9:01 PM
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The development of empathy in an individual from art mirrors the original derivation of the term; it is art that makes us empathic. What about experiencing art? The concept of empathy began in 19th-century German psychology as a description of emotional and kinesthetic responses to works of art -- engagement with works of art provokes empathic response. Empathy is how we know others' minds and others' experiences... Starting early in our lives, with children's books, then music, movies, novels, poetry, and visual art, we discover through art worlds that belong to others, and they immediately become our own... by Brian D. Cohen
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 11, 2011 3:45 PM
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The Golden Rule, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,' is at the heart of all religions. Why then the NY Times on a tear about empathy? First, there is David Brook's article "The Limits of Empathy," followed three days later by Natalie Angier's "The Pathological Altruist Gives Till Someone Hurts." Brooks is bothered by the "empathy craze," where rows of bookshelves are filled with empathy this and empathy titles. Angier, meanwhile, points out that empathy's close cousin altruism can lead to self-righteous and harmful behavior. This empathy backlash reminds me of the assault against self-esteem that flared several years ago and still has some targeting it as a source of contemporary malaise. ... by Arthur Dobrin
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 11, 2011 3:41 PM
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When I first learned that I would be receiving a 2011 Ernest C. Manning Foundation Innovation Award for my work as founder of Roots of Empathy, I was stunned―in a good way. This award, one of the most prestigious and traditionally science-based awards in Canada, provides not only huge encouragement for our organization and for me personally, but also for hundreds of social entrepreneurs in Canada. In giving me this award, the Manning Foundation has raised awareness about the contribution made by innovators who struggle with intransigent social problems. What all of this says is that there is a shift in our collective understanding about how we can change the world. It’s not just about science and technology anymore. We have to change the people in the world if we want to have peace.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 9, 2011 12:20 PM
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In fairy tales, it’s the wicked witch who desperately wants a pair of shiny shoes or the brutish baron of some dark and spooky tower who really just needs a hug. They empathize and connect, but in some ways this is nothing new. For men at war, there are always questions they ask themselves, and at times, one another. Who are these men we’re fighting? What drives them? What makes them want to do us harm? Do they have a family? Will they be missed? by Cpl. James W. Clark
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 7, 2011 12:51 PM
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It's been a while since empathy — the uniquely human capacity to recognize and share the feelings experienced by others, that science even suggests is hardwired in us — when President Obama included it in the qualities he sought in a Supreme Court appointee, and conservatives from Glenn Beck to Sen. Jim Sessions. So I was surprised to see columnist David Brooks turn the spotlight on empathy again. However, when I put it in the context of popular and growing movements like Occupy Wall Street and We are the 99 Percent, and even the movements in Wisconsin and Ohio, I was not surprised to see Brooks holding forth on the shortcomings of empathy. The success of these progressive movements constitute a powerful challenge to conservatives.
Brooks: "The problem comes when we try to turn feeling into action. Empathy makes you more aware of other people’s suffering, but it’s not clear it actually motivates you to take moral action or prevents you from taking immoral action. … Empathy orients you toward moral action, but it doesn’t seem to help much when that action comes at a personal cost. You may feel a pang for the homeless guy on the other side of the street, but the odds are that you are not going to cross the street to give him a dollar."
by terrance heath
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 8, 2011 2:43 PM
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David Brooks has an interesting essay in the New York Times called The Limits of Empathy. In it he discusses the wealth of research published lately on how empathy works as a psychological response, and makes a case that it can't and shouldn't be considered the true foundation for morality. This is because the reaction of empathy doesn't always kick in when it ideally should, to the extent that it should:
Empathy orients you toward moral action, but it doesn’t seem to help much when that action comes at a personal cost. You may feel a pang for the homeless guy on the other side of the street, but the odds are that you are not going to cross the street to give him a dollar.
by Gretchen
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
September 30, 2011 1:31 PM
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The ability to identify with other people is an important prerequisite for moral behavior, but it’s not the only one... Nobody is against empathy. Nonetheless, it’s insufficient. These days empathy has become a shortcut. It has become a way to experience delicious moral emotions without confronting the weaknesses in our nature that prevent us from actually acting upon them. It has become a way to experience the illusion of moral progress without having to do the nasty work of making moral judgments. In a culture that is inarticulate about moral categories and touchy about giving offense, teaching empathy is a safe way for schools and other institutions to seem virtuous without risking controversy or hurting anybody’s feelings.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 5, 2011 1:01 PM
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Last week, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote an Op-Ed piece called The Limits of Empathy. He argues that empathy doesn’t really affect how people act. It’s an interesting article. Here’s an excerpt:“ My take: Let’s assume that Brooks’ observations are correct. They still do not discount the importance of empathy with customers and within an organization. Even if empathy is not a significant motivator for a person’s actions, it still has an impact on the people who experience someone else’s empathy.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 4, 2011 1:15 PM
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In an op-ed piece in The New York Times the other day, columnist David Brooks debunked the current "age of empathy" craze -- or at least the claims that empathy makes a significant difference in how we behave toward one another. Though most of us (not all) experience feelings of compassion toward others, Brooks acknowledges, "The problem comes when we try to turn feelings into action...It's not clear it actually motivates you to take moral action...It doesn't seem to help much when that action comes at personal cost."... Well, it's not quite that simple. The truth may lie in a more complex, and subtle, middle-ground. In the first place, you'll note that the philosopher quoted by Brooks said only that the studies he reviewed "suggest" that empathy is a minor factor. That's a classic "weasel word" for a finding that is far less than conclusive. by Peter Corning
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 6, 2011 12:15 PM
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There is an intriguing thesis at the heart of Steven Pinker’s new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature. The Harvard psychologist argues – contrary to popular opinion – that humankind has become progressively less violent over the past few thousand years. One of Pinker’s key explanations is the rise of empathy as a force for social change: we are now more likely to look at the world through other people’s eyes, and consequently take action on their behalves... What I find missing in Pinker’s worthy tome – and books which make a similar argument, such as Jeremy Rifkin’s The Empathic Civilization – is a clear steer on how we can expand our capacity to empathise in everyday life. How exactly can we get better at it? And how can we integrate it into the way we approach the art of living?... By Roman Krznaric
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 5, 2011 1:10 PM
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As an empath — or a person who is aware that they read emotions, nuance, subtext, undercurrent, social space, relational behaviors, and gestural language to a greater degree than is deemed normal (you could also call me a highly sensitive person) — I was a little bit unnerved. I wondered: Will I be meeting people who are my diametric opposites? Will I disturb or unsettle them with my overabundance of empathy? Will they feel unsafe and alien around me — or will I feel that way around them? How should I behave? Can I do this job? By Karla McLaren
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 3, 2011 7:34 PM
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There are two kinds of compassion in this country. The compassion of the left and the compassion of the right. The compassion of the Democrat and the compassion of the Republican. The compassion of the government and the compassion of the individual. I believe that this is at the heart of a lot of the discourse that we’re hearing from the right and the left about the size of our government. There is a brewing storm of big government vs. small government sentiment. It’s been simmering since the New Deal, but has really come to a head with Obamacare.
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 13, 2011 1:05 PM
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By pooling together hundreds of entrepreneurs (and their passion, innovation, and zeal) who are working on issues pertaining to young people and children, Drayton hopes to give rise to a more empathetic generation, one that understands that we’re part of a team, not a hierarchy of institutions. For Drayton, empathy is at the root of social change, a value that will enable everyone to become a changemaker. Here are snippets of the interview. For the full interview, please listen to our conversation with Bill Drayton. "every child must master empathy. And anyone who hasn’t mastered empathy will not be helpful in this new world."
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 11, 2011 4:05 PM
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Klein said that she was moved to join Occupy Wall Street when she saw a photo of a young woman holding a sign at the protest that read, “I care about you.” This, she said, was a radical act because of its subversion of the American cultural norm. “I found it very moving. There was another sign that was part of the same photo essay that I was looking at of somebody else holding up a sign that said ‘compassion is a radical act’,” Klein said. “I’m increasingly convinced that all of the change that we want…none of this is going to happen unless we really shift the underlying values of our culture. By Kase Wickman
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 11, 2011 3:43 PM
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As of 2001, researchers have discovered a scientific basis for the validity of empathy. The results of these studies show us that specific areas of the brain are capable of mirroring the experience of another individual. Loosely termed “mirror neurons,” these specific brain centers are capable of producing our own emotional experience as well as duplicating a perceived emotional experience. Despite the “backseat ride” our emotions are given in our patriarchal society, it would seem that, at our core, we are predisposed towards empathic connection. Author and Psychologist Jeremy Rifkin explains that empathy may be our greatest asset in evolving past our tendencies for domination and war. But what does it mean to be empathic?
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 9, 2011 6:21 PM
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Evil used to be the province of religion - the devil being the original evil angel. Now it is more likely to be blamed on the brain, as recent research linking ''cold'' or ''callous'' children to genetic inheritance, suggests. This biological explanation for the sort of behaviour exhibited by Venables and Thompson refers to inherited traits. But, as far as I know, no one has yet positively identified a gene responsible for either the ''coldness'' attributed to some disturbed children, or the lack of empathy seen in psychopaths
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 8, 2011 11:02 AM
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2nd World Congress of the International Positive Psychology Association. The last day of the IPPA Conference opened with a keynote address by Dr. Richard Davidson about changing the brain by transforming the mind, finding pathways to sustainable well-being... Compassion Can Be Voluntarily Cultivated
Davidson has studied the voluntary cultivation of compassion, in part by studying Buddhist monks who are experts, with a minimum of 10,000 hours, average of 34,000 hours, and maximum of 62,000 hours of deliberate practice. These numbers are reminiscent of behavioral literature, that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to develop expertise. As described by Mathieu Ricard, they can achieve a state of love and compassion in the whole mind with no reasoning or discursive thoughts. By Kathryn Britton
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 6, 2011 2:47 PM
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Last week’s widely read and wildly simplistic New York Times article by David Brooks, The Limits of Empathy, dismissed empathy as “a delicious moral emotion” that does not lead us to moral action. Judging by the large and overwhelmingly negative comments on the site, his readers mostly disagree with Brook’s premise. Cynicism and skepticism won’t take us very far – but our empathy has no limits. by Louise Altman
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 11, 2011 10:19 AM
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It's been a while since empathy — the uniquely human capacity to recognize and share the feelings experienced by others, that science even suggests is hardwired in us — when President Obama included it in the qualities he sought in a Supreme Court appointee, and conservatives from Glenn Beck to Sen. Jim Sessions. So I was surprised to see columnist David Brooks turn the spotlight on empathy again. However, when I put it in the context of popular and growing movements like Occupy Wall Street and We are the 99 Percent, and even the movements in Wisconsin and Ohio, I was not surprised to see Brooks holding forth on the shortcomings of empathy. The success of these progressive movements constitute a powerful challenge to conservatives. By Terrance Heath
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 4, 2011 6:55 PM
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Over the last few days, a lot of people have asked me about David Brooks’ Friday op-ed column in The New York Times on the “limits of empathy.” In it, Brooks argues that empathy is a “sideshow” to moral action. Considering the glut of recent books on empathy—such as Frans de Waal’s The Age of Empathy and Jeremy Rifkin’s The Empathic Civilization—Brooks writes that empathy “has become a way to experience delicious moral emotions without confronting the weaknesses in our nature that prevent us from actually acting upon them... But Brooks is misguided, misinformed, or being needlessly provocative to discount or disparage empathy altogether. A considerable amount of research suggests empathy is an important ingredient to moral action, if not the only ingredient. By Jason Marsh
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 5, 2011 12:33 PM
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The Golden Rule, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, is at the heart of all religions. Why then the NY Times on a tear about empathy? First, there is David Brook’s article “The Limits of Empathy,” followed three days later by Natalie Angier’s “The Pathological Altruist Gives Till Someone Hurts.” Brooks is bothered by the “empathy craze,” where rows of bookshelves are filled with empathy this and empathy titles. Angier, meanwhile, points out that empathy’s close cousin altruism can lead to self-righteous and harmful behavior. This empathy backlash reminds me of the assault against self-esteem that flared several years ago and still has some targeting it as a source of contemporary malaise by arthur dobrin
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 6, 2011 12:42 PM
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Cambridge psychopathology professor Simon Baron-Cohen has investigated psychology and autism for decades and has developed a new brain-based theory of human cruelty. However, going beyond developmental psychology, he examines social and environmental factors that can erode empathy, including neglect and abuse. Borderline personality disorder, autism, narcissism, psychosis and Asperger's syndrome all have one thing in common: a lack of empathy
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 6, 2011 3:20 AM
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Is evil over? Has science finally driven a stake through its dark heart? Or at least emptied the word of useful meaning, reduced the notion of a numinous nonmaterial malevolent force to a glitch in a tangled cluster of neurons, the brain? Yes, according to many neuroscientists, who are emerging as the new high priests of the secrets of the psyche, explainers of human behavior in general... They argue that the time has come to replace such metaphysical terms with physical explanations—malfunctions or malformations in the brain... "My main goal," says Baron-Cohen, "is replacing the unscientific term 'evil' with the scientific term 'empathy.' " What he means is that instead of calling someone evil we should say they have no empathy. By Ron Rosenbaum
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Scooped by
Edwin Rutsch
October 4, 2011 6:30 PM
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Whatever happened to ‘compassionate’ conservatism? There have been at least four unexpected reactions from the audience at recent GOP Presidential debates. The audience cheered at the execution of 234 people. They booed the idea that a child receive a tax-payer-subsidized education. Several audience members chanted “let him die,” and booed a gay solider. But the drift from compassion doesn’t end there. There has been no discussion about helping the poor or facilitating ex-offender reentry. Are these isolated events or is this the face of the Republican party?
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