The ideological weaponization of empathy is one of the most dangerous developments on the radical left. Empathy is an emotion, which some people are neurologically incapable of. But ethics is not based on emotions. Ethics can be based on a system of rules (deontological ethics) or on the consequences of one's actions (utilitarianism). Bu…
The ideological weaponization of empathy is one of the most dangerous developments on the radical left. Empathy is an emotion, which some people are neurologically incapable of. But ethics is not based on emotions. Ethics can be based on a system of rules (deontological ethics) or on the consequences of one's actions (utilitarianism). But when you divide people into those who are empathetic and those who are not, you dehumanize your political enemies. The same people who are vehemently opposed to the biological determinism of race embrace their own biological determinism: "us", the kind people, versus "them", the cruel ones. It becomes a secular version of Calvinism, with the elect and the damned. This article correctly points out that many Trump voters, denigrated by the left, adhere to their own ethical system, which in fact may be more rational than DEI. Until this is recognized, the left will lose.
The ideological weaponization of empathy is one of the most dangerous developments on the radical left. Empathy is an emotion, which some people are neurologically incapable of. But ethics is not based on emotions. Ethics can be based on a system of rules (deontological ethics) or on the consequences of one's actions (utilitarianism). But when you divide people into those who are empathetic and those who are not, you dehumanize your political enemies. The same people who are vehemently opposed to the biological determinism of race embrace their own biological determinism: "us", the kind people, versus "them", the cruel ones. It becomes a secular version of Calvinism, with the elect and the damned. This article correctly points out that many Trump voters, denigrated by the left, adhere to their own ethical system, which in fact may be more rational than DEI. Until this is recognized, the left will lose.
Elana. Your first line was enough said.
But your closer line was pertinent, too.
Everything in between…
Well, OK.
You’re a grad student working on “a paper”—and this is an excerpt?
I think what Elana wrote was very useful, all of it.