We should empathize with all these people, and the billions more around the world in need, “but we can’t.” As the author shows, we need our cognitive capabilities to truly value their lives. Cognitive empathy enables the understanding of “what’s going on in other people’s heads.” A single case-e.g., the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut-evokes a much stronger response than the daily murders of teenagers in inner cities around the country.
Most people are unable to truly empathize with more than one or two others at a time. Sentimental empathy is narrow, Bloom writes, “like a spotlight,” introducing bias, distortion, and/or worse. Without the reasoning power of the latter, impulsiveness is subject to self-deception and manipulation. The author distinguishes between sentimental and cognitive empathy. Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil, 2013, etc.) to promote the function of compassion, which is informed by rational deliberation.
The potential of empathy to lead to cruelty prompts Bloom (Psychology/Yale Univ.
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