Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion

New York Post Best Book of the Year

We often think of our capacity to experience the suffering of others as the ultimate source of goodness. Many of our wisest policy-makers, activists, scientists, and philosophers agree that the only problem with empathy is that we don’t have enough of it.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, argues Yale researcher Paul Bloom. In AGAINST EMPATHY, Bloom reveals empathy to be one of the leading motivators of inequality and immorality in society. Far from helping us to improve the lives of others, empathy is a capricious and irrational emotion that appeals to our narrow prejudices. It muddles our ethical decision making and, ironically, often leads to cruelty. We are at our best when we are smart enough not to rely on it, but to draw instead upon a more distanced compassion.

Basing his argument on groundbreaking scientific findings from cognitive science, Bloom makes the case that some of the worst decisions made by individuals and nations—who to give money to, when to go to war, how to respond to climate change, and who to imprison—are too often motivated by honest, yet misplaced, emotions. With precision and wit, he demonstrates how empathy distorts our moral judgment in every aspect of our lives, from philanthropy and charity to the justice system; from medical care and education to parenting and marriage. Without empathy, Bloom insists, our decisions would be clearer, fairer, and—yes—ultimately more moral.

Brilliantly argued, urgent and humane, AGAINST EMPATHY shows us that, when it comes to both major policy decisions and the choices we make in our everyday lives, limiting our impulse toward empathy is often the most compassionate choice we can make.

This urgent and humane book makes a compelling, counterintuitive argument for the power of reason in our moral lives, revealing:

• Compassion vs Empathy: Why feeling the suffering of others can lead to burnout and poor decisions, and how a more detached compassion results in clearer, fairer, and ultimately more moral choices.
• Moral Decision-Making: A fascinating look at how a single, capricious emotion distorts our judgment in everything from philanthropy and the justice system to parenting and foreign policy.
• The Neuroscience of Morality: An exploration of groundbreaking scientific findings from cognitive science that reveal empathy as an irrational feeling that appeals to our narrowest prejudices.
• A Case for Rationality: How we can use our capacity for conscious, deliberative reasoning to overcome our biases and make the world a better, more humane place.