Against Empathy

1. Empathy can lead to biased and irrational moral decisions

Empathy is biased, pushing us in the direction of parochialism and racism.

Spotlight effect. Empathy acts like a spotlight, focusing intensely on specific individuals or situations while leaving others in darkness. This narrow focus can lead to skewed moral judgments and actions.

Bias amplification. Our empathic responses are heavily influenced by factors such as similarity, proximity, and familiarity. We tend to empathize more easily with those who look like us, are close to us, or share our experiences. This can reinforce existing biases and prejudices, leading to unfair treatment of out-groups or distant others.

Emotional manipulation. Because empathy is based on emotional resonance, it can be easily manipulated by vivid stories or images. This makes us vulnerable to propaganda and can lead to disproportionate responses to individual cases at the expense of more significant but less emotionally salient issues.

2. Reason and compassion are superior alternatives to empathy

If you are struggling with a moral decision and find yourself trying to feel someone else's pain or pleasure, you should stop.

Rational deliberation. Instead of relying on empathic feelings, we should engage in careful reasoning about moral issues. This involves considering long-term consequences, weighing costs and benefits, and applying consistent ethical principles.

Compassionate concern. A more diffuse sense of care and concern for others' well-being can motivate moral action without the drawbacks of empathy. This allows us to care about people without necessarily feeling their pain.

Impartiality. By stepping back from empathic engagement, we can strive for a more impartial and fair perspective on moral issues. This helps us treat all individuals with equal moral consideration, regardless of their ability to evoke our empathy.

3. Empathy is innumerate and focuses on individuals over groups

Empathy is a spotlight focusing on certain people in the here and now.

Statistical insensitivity. Empathy struggles with numbers and scale. We can feel intense empathy for a single identified victim but remain unmoved by statistics about larger groups suffering similar fates.

Present bias. Empathy prioritizes immediate and visible suffering over long-term or less tangible harms. This can lead to short-sighted decisions that ignore broader consequences.

Identifiable victim effect. We are much more likely to empathize with and help specific, identifiable individuals than anonymous or statistical victims. This can lead to misallocation of resources and efforts in addressing social problems.

4. Violence and cruelty can be motivated by empathy

When you're done with this book, you might ask what's not wrong with empathy.

Empathy-driven conflict. Strong empathy for one's own group or for victims of perceived injustice can fuel hatred and violence towards perceived oppressors or out-groups.

Moral licensing. Feeling empathy can sometimes give people a sense of moral superiority, paradoxically leading to less ethical behavior in other areas.

Retributive justice. Empathy for victims can drive a desire for harsh punishment of wrongdoers, potentially leading to cycles of violence and retribution rather than more constructive approaches to justice.

5. Empathy can be emotionally exhausting in personal relationships

Empathy gets in the way of that, greedily focusing on the short-term buzz of increasing your children's happiness right now at the possible expense of what's actually good for them.

Emotional contagion. Constantly taking on others' emotions can lead to burnout and compassion fatigue, especially in helping professions or close relationships.

Boundary issues. Over-empathizing can blur the lines between self and other, making it difficult to maintain healthy boundaries and self-care.

Misplaced priorities. In parenting and other close relationships, empathy can lead to prioritizing short-term emotional comfort over long-term growth and development.

6. Political ideologies are not strictly tied to empathy levels

Being against empathy won't tell you what to think about gun control, taxation, health care, and the like; it won't tell you who to vote for, or what your general political philosophy should be.

Empathy across the spectrum. Both liberal and conservative ideologies can appeal to empathy for different groups or individuals. The difference often lies in who is seen as deserving of empathy.

Rational policy-making. Many important policy decisions require impartial analysis and long-term thinking rather than empathic engagement with specific cases.

Diverse moral foundations. Political views are shaped by a range of moral intuitions and values, of which empathy is only one component.

7. Rational deliberation is crucial for moral progress

We are emotional creatures, then, but we are also rational beings, with the capacity for rational decision-making.

Overcoming bias. Rational deliberation allows us to recognize and correct for our inherent biases and limitations, including those stemming from empathy.

Expanding moral circles. Historical moral progress, such as the abolition of slavery or expansion of rights, has often been driven by rational arguments rather than empathic feelings.

Handling complexity. Many modern moral challenges involve complex systems and long-term consequences that require careful analysis rather than gut reactions.

8. Effective altruism prioritizes reason over emotional appeals

If a child is starving, it doesn't really matter whether the food is delivered by a smiling aid worker who hands it over and then gives the kid a hug, or dropped from the sky by a buzzing drone.

Impact-focused giving. Effective altruism encourages donors to consider the actual impact of their contributions rather than the emotional satisfaction of giving.

Cost-effectiveness analysis. By rationally assessing different interventions, we can identify the most efficient ways to improve lives and reduce suffering.

Overcoming empathic limitations. Effective altruism allows us to help those who may not naturally evoke our empathy but whose needs are just as pressing.

9. Self-control and intelligence are key components of morality

To make the world a better place, we would also want to bless people with more smarts and more self-control.

Cognitive foundations of ethics. The ability to reason about complex moral issues and foresee long-term consequences is crucial for making ethical decisions.

Impulse regulation. Self-control allows us to override immediate emotional responses, including empathic ones, in favor of more considered moral actions.

Moral development. Both intelligence and self-control are associated with higher levels of moral reasoning and more consistently ethical behavior.

Last updated: January 23, 2025