20 April to 27 April
Empathy: a two sided attribute?
Empathy is about the attempt imaginatively to inhabit another's world - to understand, experience and feel things as that person does, rather than as some people believe, about the attempt to imagine what one's own experiences, perceptions and feelings would be in their situation. Empathy can be found to a greater or lesser degree in most people. Not only that, but an individual may be more or less successful in empathising with others, and may be more or less inclined to use her power to do so in helpful ways.
We are more likely to use our empathic skill to help those that we care for, than those that we dislike. In other words, although empathy is often talked of in a cosy way, as if it is always a positive attribute, it can be used for bad as well as good purposes. It is, for example, empathy that allows a skilled salesperson to sell you something you didn't know you needed, with money you didn't know you had. And it is empathy that allows those who wish to subjugate others to decide how best to do so, and that allows the best torturers to practice their art so well.
Gavin Fairbairn, Running Stream Professor of Ethics and Language, School of Applied Global Ethics