Did you hear about the Buddhist vacuum cleaner?
It comes with no attachments.
据说这个笑话历史悠久,不过我是在Against Empathy上第一次看到。整本书读完记得最牢的还是这两句话,也许这本书的亮点太少,作者的论调论据都不够新鲜,有些内容甚至连我都曾认证地思考过。
作者花了很大篇幅对这3个单词Sympathy, Empathy, Compassion下定义作区分。同时,还要反复强调自己并不反对 Empathy中友善的成分。
Empathy is to refer to this mirroring of others’ feeling. Sympathy is about your reaction to the feelings of others. If you feel bad for someone who is bored, that’s sympathy, but if you feel bored, that’s empathy. Compassion does not mean sharing the suffering of the other: rather, it is characterized by feelings of warmth, concern and care for the other, as well as a strong motivation to improve the other’s well-being. Compassion is feeling for and not feeling with the other.
Empathy is:
- Narrow minded (对亲/相近的人更容易产生共鸣)
- Innumerate (斯大林的一句名言:一个人死亡是悲剧,一百万人死亡则是统计数据)
- Able to lead us to make poor judgments (白人警察射杀无辜黑人后的舆论)
- Able to paralyzed someone if they feel too much (医患关系)
- Not moral by itself and can lead equally to helping or avoiding (希特勒是憎恨捕猎的爱狗人士,集中营附近居民的眼不见为净)
说来说去,作者要反对的就是“圣母”,尤其是被一叶障目的圣母。举出来的例子小到施舍给小乞丐食/财物到底是助人还是自娱大到拷打行凶者家属的作法是否合乎情理(24小时里常出现的情节)等等都在旁敲侧击Empathy中感情用事的那一部分。作者为此又高度赞扬了一番rational thinking,还又引用了一个跟佛教徒有关的典故(也是第一次看到),有人问Dalai ,为免遭生灵涂炭,你会不会结果希特勒?在和后援团商议几分钟后Dalai 给出的回答是:“ If it would stop the Holocaust, Kill Hitler, but don’t be angry.”
作者认为看可贵的品质除了rational thinking外,还有更为要紧的self-control,这点我双手赞成。
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