Philosophers have often looked for the defining feature of humans — language, rationality, culture, and so on. I'd stick with this: Man is the only animal that likes Tabasco sauce. Paul Bloom More Quotes by Paul Bloom More Quotes From Paul Bloom If you like somebody, they look better to you. This is why spouses in happy marriages tend to think that their husband or wife looks much better than anyone else thinks that they do. Paul Bloom motivation husband inspiration And empathy is narrow; it connects us to particular individuals, real or imagined, but is insensitive to numerical differences and statistical data. Paul Bloom data differences real Traditionally, psychology has been the study of two populations: university freshmen and white rats. Paul Bloom psychology white two By “empathy,” some people mean everything that is good - compassion, kindness, warmth, love, being a mensch, changing the world - and I'm for all of those things. I'm not a monster. Paul Bloom compassion kindness mean I think we should really discourage this sort of empathic engagement when it comes to making moral decisions. I think we should focus on something like compassion, on getting people to care more for others without putting ourselves in their shoes. Paul Bloom shoes compassion thinking People differ in where they direct their empathy and their compassion. Many people are intensely concerned about the suffering of non-human animals, and some do not care at all. There are cultural differences. Paul Bloom differences compassion animal Individuals differ in how empathic they are. Some people would really flinch if they watched me hitting my hand with a hammer, and other people would just not care. Paul Bloom hammers hands people I'm very interested in why we do good things, or bad things, and where moral judgments come from. Paul Bloom judgment moral good-things I think there's some evidence that we're empathic by nature. There is some evidence from studies of babies and young children that they resonate with the pain of others, and there's some work by Frans de Waal that other primates also resonate with the pain of others. Paul Bloom pain baby children It would be nice if everybody who had something interesting to say about my work could say it politely and civilly, but it doesn't work that way... Sometimes people are just really nasty. Paul Bloom nice people interesting I kind of like social media, and I like hearing from people. I don't like the ugly stuff, but there are some people - smart people - who have a very different perspective, and I'll get a backlash from them. And this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Paul Bloom smart media people I think there's some evidence that when it comes to being a doctor or nurse, a police officer or therapist, that empathetic engagement leads to burn-out. Imagine if you're dealing with severely ill children, and you felt their pain all the time, and the pain of their parents - you wouldn't be able to do that job for very long. It would kill you. Paul Bloom pain jobs children For the most part, people use "empathy" to mean everything good. For instance, many medical schools have courses in empathy. But if you look at what they mean, they just want medical students to be nicer to their patients, to listen to them, to respect them, to understand them. What's not to like? If they were really teaching empathy, then I'd say there is a world of problems there. Paul Bloom teaching mean school I'm really interested in the pleasure we get from stories and the pleasure we get from movies, and certainly the pleasure we get from virtual experiences. My complaint is against empathy as a moral guide. But as a source of pleasure, it can't be beat. Paul Bloom empathy moral stories It has been a period where people have been far nicer to one another in every possible way. I'm not saying it's because we're dropping our empathy that we're nicer to each other, just that the drop doesn't seem to be causing any harm. Paul Bloom empathy people way The effects of Twitter and Facebook and all those things on people's psychologies is a really interesting question to which nobody knows the answer. Paul Bloom psychology people interesting My younger son told me nobody uses email anymore. I'm this old fogie with my email. I don't know what I'm supposed to communicate with now - SnapChat? Paul Bloom snapchat email use Over the last few years, I've been focusing on questions having to do with the self, and questions having to do with morality. I'm very interested in why we do good things, or bad things, and where moral judgments come from. Paul Bloom judgment morality moral My book is going to be called Against Empathy, which may give you a feeling for where my argument is going to go. Whenever I talk about this, I have to begin in the most boring of all possible ways: by defining my terms. By "empathy," some people mean everything that is good - compassion, kindness, warmth, love, being a mensch, changing the world - and I'm for all of those things. I'm not a monster. Paul Bloom kindness mean book I am never going to write about dogs again. You can write about Islam, you can write about sexuality, but no, not dogs. Paul Bloom islam dog writing
