Marc Alexander’s Reviews > Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion > Status Update

This is one of those books where the thesis is easy to grasp and the arguments fairly straightforward: empathy distorts our ability to do good because we cannot empathize with everyone, nor can we empathize with many people. Rational compassion does more good, more effectively. It’s a nice counterweight to the idea that the world would be a much better place with far more empathy, or the lack of it is a major issue.

This is one of those books where the thesis is easy to grasp and the arguments fairly straightforward: empathy is powerful but also distorts our ability to do good. Rational compassion does more good, more effectively. It’s a nice counterweight to the idea that the world would be a much better place with far more of it, or the lack of it is an major issue.