Why a lack of empathy is the root of all evil
Why a lack of empathy is the root of all evil
From casual violence to genocide, acts of cruelty can be traced back to how the perpetrator identifies with other people, argues psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen. Is he right?
By Clint Witchalls
Lucy Adeniji – an evangelical Christian and author of two books on childcare – trafficked two girls and a 21-year-old woman from Nigeria to work as slaves in her east London home. She made them toil for 21 hours a day and tortured them if they displeased her. The youngest girl was 11 years old.
Sentencing her to 11-and-a-half years in prison last month, Judge Simon Oliver said: "You are an evil woman. I have no doubt you have ruined these two girls' lives. They will suffer from the consequences of the behaviour you meted out to them for the rest of their lives."
Most people would probably agree with Judge Oliver's description of Adeniji as evil, but Simon Baron-Cohen, professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge, would not be one of them. In his latest book, Zero Degrees of Empathy: A new theory of human cruelty, Baron-Cohen, argues that the term evil is unscientific and unhelpful. "Sometimes the term evil is used as a way to stop an inquiry," Baron-Cohen tells me. "'This person did it because they're evil' – as if that were an explanation."
Human cruelty has fascinated and puzzled Baron-Cohen since childhood. When he was seven years old, his father told him the Nazis had turned Jews into lampshades and soap. He also recounted the story of a woman he met who had her hands severed by Nazi doctors and sewn on opposite arms so the thumbs faced outwards. These images stuck in Simon's mind. He couldn't understand how one human could treat another with such cruelty. The explanation that the Nazis were simply evil didn't satisfy him. For Baron-Cohen, science provides a more satisfactory explanation for evil and that explanation is empathy – or rather, lack of empathy.
"Empathy is our ability to identify what someone else is thinking or feeling, and to respond to their thoughts and feelings with an appropriate emotion," writes Baron-Cohen. People who lack empathy see others as mere objects.
Read the rest on The Independent.
Tags: cruelty, empathy, evil, genetics, morality, prenatal, psychopathology, science, testosterone, violence
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Robert Karp on -
Beck says otherwise. Anyone else happy that nutcase is off Fox?
-
-
Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on -
Since I don't watch Fox, it makes no difference to me. He'll be replaced by another nutjob any day now, if he hasn't been already.
That is a stupid fucking video. That guy is such a wacko.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on
-
That doesn't bother me. He's not philosophizing here. He studies autism mainly, and his understanding of empathy, or a lack thereof, is what is behind this article, I think. He's not concerned with where, or to whom, the cruelty is directed. But rather what causes it to begin with.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on -
I agree. Many of us, especially religiously-inclined people, use the word "evil" (and the word "good") to change others' behavior of thinking. They serve political purposes rather well.
Because the words "sociopathy" and "psychopathy" have lost any precision they perhaps once had. When I was researching the condition I heard from people who'd studied psychology a preference for "psychopathy" and from people who'd studied sociology a preference for "sociopathy". Because science needs precision, we now have the term "antisocial personality disorder (APD)."
There's now a wealth of more recent research and lack of empathy seems to describe the behavior well.
To religiously-inclined people I point out that Hamurabi's Code predates the OT by many centuries. To pragmatically-inclined people I point out that sheriffs have jailhouse keys, they usually do as judges say, and judges usually follow laws--which may be unjust and merit civil disobedience.
Methinks that in ancient times, most people had empathy for their peers. Methinks too that rulers such as Hamurabi wanted to protect themselves from assassins.
Therefore, morality had two origins: from the people and from the rulers.
Some of the research says that APD afflicts from 0.5 to 1.5 percent of the unincarcerated and from 20 to 25% of the incarcerated (and about 4% of CEOs). The law appears to be functioning (somewhat).
-
What's new today
Discussion Forum
Frans de Waal's Bottom-Up Morality: We're Not Good Because Of God
Started by Dallas the Phallus. Last reply by Tom Sarbeck Apr 22. 26 Replies 2 Likes
Blog Posts
How Jesus' Views on Marriage Proves Yahweh's Laws are NOT Absolute OR Jesus is Mistaken
Posted by Cathy Cooper on May 17, 2013 at 10:00am 3 Comments 0 Likes
Events
Services we love
Check out our new mobile/tablet version of Think Atheist! www.ThinkAtheist.com/m
© 2013 Created by Morgan Matthew.
