"In previous posts, I argued that empathy, expressed in different ways-as feelings of compassion, an abhorrence of cruelty, and a wider circle of concern-is the core of a liberal worldview and a liberal political philosophy. I added, however, several important caveats: Liberals are not always empathic, conservatives are not always callous, and policies animated by empathy are not always wise."
"Empathy is an instinctive, unconscious emotional response to the feelings of others. It is also a conscious choice-a deliberate and often difficult effort to suspend judgment, to hear another person's story, to imagine ourselves in similar life circumstances, and to see (and feel) the world from their point of view. Empathy, journalist Jennifer Finney Boylan reminds us, is an act of "moral imagination." We can choose to feel-or turn away from-someone else's joy and pain."
Empathy functions both as an instinctive emotional response and as a deliberate moral choice to imagine and feel another person's circumstances. Empathy underpins compassion, abhorrence of cruelty, and a wider circle of concern, yet people across ideological lines vary in empathic behavior and policies driven by empathy can be unwise. Listening with empathy involves allowing oneself to be influenced by another's feelings. Constructive disagreement often begins with a gesture of empathy. Psychological and neuroscientific evidence indicates empathy can be strengthened through effort rather than being a fixed trait.
Read at Psychology Today
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