I start this post with a story. The night guard of a financial firm became known for his honesty over the years. He gained the trust of the company and proved he was worthy of it. The guard had one son who fell suddenly ill. He needed an urgent surgery the cost of which was beyond the guards’ financial means. He applied for a loan but the company turned his request down. He asked a few employees to lend him money but in vain.
His son reached a critical condition. The guard was desperate for money to pay for the surgery. That night he decided to steal money from the company. He did. One senior employee happened to arrive suddenly and he noticed that the guard rushed out and disappeared.
The next day the company found out that some money had been stolen. The senior employee faced a dilemma. Reporting what he saw light night would result in firing the guard even though he kept his honesty for years. The senior employee knew why the guard stole the money and feelings for him alternated between two opposite feelings.
One feeling overwhelmed the senior employee was that care (the need to lessen the suffering of the guard seeing his only son suffering). This was coupled with the need of the guard to have fairness in that the guard did what he did because he had no other option.
On the other hand, the senior employee felt that he should report the guard because of his need to show loyalty to his company. This feeling intensified his need to maintain authority (the need to respect the company’s rules) and sanctity (the need to maintain the purity of the company).
This is a real story that reminds me of what Matthew Feinberg and Robb Willer hypothesized. Empathy focuses on care and loyalty. Morality cares for loyalty, authority, and sanctity. Which one overwhelms varies between one person and another and a situation and another.
This conflict between morality and empathy reminded me of what Dennis Pitocco wrote recently, “moral certainty to become often the enemy of empathy.” This is what the senior employee faced on whether to report the guard or not.
This dilemma is unfortunately tilting in favor of morality in our world. The increasing conflicts between fighting parties cause huge losses in lives and properties. The longer the wars prolong the heavier the losses shall be and so empathy dries up.
With killing increasing, people tend to focus on their own losses and empathize less with the other side.
Is empathy drying out and if so where the world is heading to? Please share your thoughts.
Empathy today is one of the most used, and often abused, words by scientists, activists, philosophers, managers, influencers and politicians, etc.
Everyone seems to agree that the only problem with empathy is that we do not have enough of it and we should experience the suffering of others to build a new, more sensitive and attentive society.
Perhaps it is too much to imagine empathy as a saving resource, as if it were the virtue to be rediscovered and practiced desperately and at all costs to put the world back on track. Unfortunately, I think that an empathetic humanity would probably not correct the course of the world; if anything, it could understand it better. It is possible that this happens because, after all, humans are by nature biologically predisposed to sharing. The current era, marked by conflicts, wars, massacres, polarizations and injustices, seems increasingly incapable of finding shared solutions.
We should all make an effort to promote this attitude of empathy as a collective value and to foster dialogue and mutual understanding.
Aldo I thoroughly engaged your comment before retiring for tonight and what a great ending for the day to enjoy its beauty,
Empathy is a widely used and often abused term, but its potential to change the world is limited. I agree and say that even it is a prerequisite for this to happen.
An empathetic humanity could better understand the world, but it may not correct its course due to the current era’s conflicts, wars, and injustices. To promote empathy as a collective value, we should foster dialogue and mutual understanding.
That is the dream. There is a way our if we wanted to.
Thank you again for sharing your shining insight.
Thank you and have a good rest.
Let’s try to dream every now and then without resigning ourselves to thinking that everything in this world ends up becoming a utopia.
Good day, Aldo.
I share your sweet dream. Thank you