Michael D. Scur
Aug 8, 2017 · 1 min read

Are we reading the same paper?

“While I strongly support trying to understand how and why people think the way they do, relying on affective empathy — feeling another’s pain — causes us to focus on anecdotes, favor individuals similar to us, and harbor other irrational and dangerous biases. Being emotionally unengaged helps us better reason about the facts.”

There’s nothing false with that statement. As a problem solver it does you no good to try and relate “to the pain” of another person. I do clinical trial research in oncology and I would be crippled if I tried to place myself in that role on a daily basis. That doesn’t mean I lack empathy for my trial patients — not at all. I go well out of my way to try and understand the difficulties they face and make everything I can as easy as possible for them. These are two different types of empathy. One the author is not even arguing against, and one that’s empirically supported to be counterproductive (Paul Bloom’s “against empathy” so you can discriminate the difference).

I think you missed the mark on this one.

    Michael D. Scur

    Written by

    Saying I’ve lived a “colorful life” doesn’t cut it. Prismatic might.