(EF46) Unjust World
Society is like a set of broken scales that people constantly try to balance, even though it’s inherently impossible.
Society is like a set of broken scales that people constantly try to balance, even though it’s inherently impossible.
Most have never been forced to choose which track to send the trolley. And even less have actually put themselves on a track.
Episode EF46 is dedicated to Paul Bloom, an American psychologist known for his work investigating how people try to understand the world. His alternative take on morality — rational compassion over empathy — makes a compelling case on why empathy without the balance of reason might sometimes do more harm than good. Can empathy actually prevent a person from doing the most good they can? If you enjoy trolley problem speculation, then toying with rational compassion will help you formulate challenging scenarios even more personal and complex.
DEDICATION: Episode EF46 is dedicated to Paul Bloom, an American psychologist known for his work investigating how people try to understand the world. His alternative take on morality — rational compassion over empathy — makes a compelling case on why empathy without the balance of reason might sometimes do more harm than good. Can empathy actually prevent a person from doing the most good they can? If you enjoy trolley problem speculation, then toying with rational compassion will help you formulate challenging scenarios even more personal and complex.
INSPIRATIONS: Episode EF46 is further inspired by … Jeremy Bentham, Peter Singer, John Stuart Mill.
Put in an impossible position early in her career, Mary Payne was forced to make a choice between saving a single identifiable victim or helping an entire community of nameless people. The decision haunts her entire life. Many years later in old age, Mary is faced with another trolley bearing down on her where she will once again be forced to make a difficult decision on which track to send it. But unlike before, this time her life sits in the balance on one of the tracks. In theories about a just society, good deeds are expected to be rewarded and bad deeds punished. But is it really so easy to define what is a good versus bad deed? Can empathy for one human being, and the reward that comes with it, blind you from the same effort being able to help many others instead? Using Paul Bloom’s theory of rational compassion, we will explore what means to be a good person and why genuine good can easily get prosecuted in an unjust society. What would you do with your hand on the switch and a trolley bearing down on two tracks, both with grave consequences? Is there any real possibility for a just world when some decisions have only bad outcomes? Or is life and society just inherently unfair?
EF46 (S2-E7): Empathetic Distortion: Rigging the Scales of Justice Read More »
Season Two, Episode Seven: Like a rigged scale of justice, life in society and within cultures is inherently unfair. But what if there were ways to live true to yourself while also being compassionate to everyone? And is a just world even possible?
Put in an impossible position early in her career, Mary Payne was forced to make a choice between saving a single identifiable victim or helping an entire community of nameless people. The decision haunts her entire life. Many years later in old age, Mary is faced with another trolley bearing down on her where she will once again be forced to make a difficult decision on which track to send it. But unlike before, this time her life sits in the balance on one of the tracks. In theories about a just society, good deeds are expected to be rewarded and bad deeds punished. But is it really so easy to define what is a good versus bad deed? Can empathy for one human being, and the reward that comes with it, blind you from the same effort being able to help many others instead? Using Paul Bloom’s theory of rational compassion, we will explore what means to be a good person and why genuine good can easily get prosecuted in an unjust society. What would you do with your hand on the switch and a trolley bearing down on two tracks, both with grave consequences? Is there any real possibility for a just world when some decisions have only bad outcomes? Or is life and society just inherently unfair?
Figuring out what you should be doing with your ‘work life’ is simple … what would you do for free?
Work is almost half of most people’s waking lives, yet few put much thought into doing something aligned with their values and life goals.
It’s hard for people to grasp a different kind of capitalism or economy where money doesn’t change hands. What would mutual value look like?
At what point will there be a generation of children who won’t even experience the real world?
If you’re going to destroy the economy, especially in a country in which work is treated with religious reverence, then you have to replace it with something.