The Morality of Empathy
Moral Maze
BBC
4.5 • 609 Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2017
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The government's decision to end the scheme that let unaccompanied migrant children into the UK has provoked an outcry. Many had hoped that we could offer a home to thousands of child refugees and the closure of the scheme has been branded "shameful". It's hard not to empathise with the bewildered and vulnerable child refugees now stranded in Europe and it's a very natural human reaction to want to do something to help. But what if, in the very act of helping, we make matters worse? The resettlement scheme has been halted because it's feared that it will just encourage child trafficking. In this case, our empathy could be leading to greater harm and suffering. Morally, how useful is the emotion of empathy? It might encourage us to feel compassion - and experiencing that emption may make us feel better about ourselves - but, as Aristotle warned, "we are easily deceived concerning our perceptions when we're in the grip of our emotions." In a difficult world where there are no easy answers, does empathy cloud our judgment? It is morally better to use reason and evidence to decide on the most effective, altruistic course of action? The morality of empathy. Witnesses are Oliver Moody, George Gabriel, Harry Phibbs and Prof Paul Gilbert.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to a program from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:04.1 | Good evening. Lord Dubs must find it easy to empathise with the children caught up in Europe's 21st century migrant crisis. |
| 0:12.3 | As a 20th century child, he was a refugee from the Nazis, brought here under what's remembered as the Kinder Transport. |
| 0:19.0 | The government's decision to close his scheme |
| 0:21.2 | to bring unaccompanied migrant children here next month, |
| 0:24.8 | limiting the numbers to 350 rather than the 3,000 he had hoped for, |
| 0:29.2 | has caused much anger and criticism, |
| 0:31.3 | up to and including the Archbishop of Canterbury. |
| 0:34.0 | The government stands accused of a lack of empathy, |
| 0:36.3 | the ability to identify with others' feelings, which many say is the basis of morality. |
| 0:41.6 | But is it? Take these children. The government says the scheme has perverse consequences, sucking more children into the situation it's trying to solve, encouraging people traffickers. |
| 0:51.9 | Better to spend money, in our case, two billion pounds, |
| 0:55.2 | trying to improve things for them where they are. There's a wider philosophical point, |
| 1:00.5 | an argument that empathy is not the best basis for moral decisions. It's an essentially |
| 1:05.4 | emotional response. It's self-regarding we empathise most with those who are most like us. "'It's subjective. |
| 1:11.7 | "'Emathy responds to the sick baby on the screen, |
| 1:14.6 | "'not the thousands outside the camera shot. |
| 1:16.8 | "'It's not numerate. |
| 1:18.5 | "'Empathy is with individuals, |
| 1:20.3 | "' whereas a better moral course might be to try to do the best for the most. |
| 1:24.6 | "'According to this argument, sympathy, |
| 1:26.7 | "'concern for others without the need to |
... |
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