I wouldn’t say I have totally internalized the arguments in there, but I think I’ve learnt a few things: In fact, I had to constantly remind myself about how Bloom defines empathy. While Bloom writes clearly, it took me a while to digest his arguments, because they are against the common belief and assumptions about empathy being a good thing. So when I see someone else in pain and I feel empathy for that person, I’m simply feeling his pain, but that does not necessarily motivate me to help him. It has nothing to do with kindness nor morality. Right from the beginning, Bloom defines empathy as simply feeling what another person is feeling. In terms of book-shopping, that’s a good thing for the author, because that means I might be curious enough to buy the book, and I did, hoping I would learn something new from it. The first thought that came to my mind was in the form of a big question mark. The title caught my eye when I was combing the bookstore for something interesting to read over the holidays.
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