Re: Empathy
Alan Forrester <alanmichaelforrester-gM/[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.science.physics.fabric-of-reality |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
On 20 Dec 2012, at 11:19, hibbsa <[email protected]> wrote: > > > --- In [email protected], Brett Hall <brhalluk@...> wrote: >> >> On 17/12/2012, at 19:22, "hibbsa" <asbbih@...> wrote: >> >>> >>> >>> --- In [email protected], Elliot Temple <curi@> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> On Dec 16, 2012, at 11:15 AM, hibbsa <asbbih@> wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> Something that might be helpful to a discussion about empathy would be >>>>> if particapants disclose whether they personally consistently experience >>>>> what they assume must be meant by 'empathy'. Not everyone does. >>>> >>>> Stop trying to invade people's privacy. >>>> >>>> -- Elliot Temple >>>> http://fallibleideas.com/ >>>> >>> >>> Voluntary disclosure doesn't involve any kind of invasion that I can see. So the question would be the relevance/importance to the discussion of what is suggested. >>> About that I would say that, if you don't experience the sensation of empathy, and never have...then you about as useful to people that do or have as a blind man is to a discussion about the visual sensation of colour. >>> >> Is this what emotions are like? Is empathy, poorly defined as it is, a quale like the perception of some colour? >> >> Brett. >> >> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >> > > From what I can make of it, empathy is linked in with social instinct (Or call it social static memes if you prefer...in the end once 'static memes' have been worked through to their consequences I suspect there aren't going to be that many differences) People don't have instincts, only knowledge they haven't questioned yet. Empathy is just a word for certain responses that the particular audience in question happens to like. If a man shoots a burglar who comes into his house, lefties might insist we should have empathy for the burglar, while righties might say we should have empathy for the shooter. > Not everyone has it. Psychopaths don't get empathy. Autism/Asperger's have less empathy which may be part of the reason for the tendency to be socially isolated, unable to grasp social cues and so on. > > What is the difference and similarity between psychopathy and autism spectrum disorders would be of potential interest. Psychopathy and autism are both labels for behaviour that psychiatrists dislike: the difference between them is arbitrary and of no interest. Alan