“Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion” (2016), by Paul Bloom. Arts and Humanities research paper. Original abstract below, unchanged. No free PDF was found.

Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion

Paul Bloom · January 1, 2016 · Arts and Humanities

Abstract

"We often think of our capacity to experience the suffering of others as the ultimate source of goodness. Many of our wisest policy-makers, activists, scientists, and philosophers agree that the only problem with empathy is that we don't have enough of it. Nothing could be farther from the truth, argues Yale researcher Paul Bloom. In [this book], Bloom [posits that] empathy [is] one of the leading motivators of inequality and immorality in society. Far from helping us to improve the lives of others, empathy is a capricious and irrational emotion that appeals to our narrow prejudices"--Dust jacket flap

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