Grace Yun

Professor Porte
Writing The Essay
8 November 2015
The Price of Empathy
Even infants know how to empathize. Merely seeing and hearing anothers pain troubles
them, so as soon as they are mobile, young children attempt to soothe those in distress (Bloom).
Rather than remaining stagnant, these empathetic capabilities only seem to grow in children as
they grow older. Does this mean that empathy is an innate human quality that has stood the test
of time and evolution? This would imply that empathy benefits the life and survival of mankind.
However, empathy is not unique to human beings. Evidently, even chimps will often put their
arms around the victim of an attack to portray understanding and compassion (Bloom). Then
what exactly is empathythis capability innate to almost all living creatures?
Empathy is most often tied to the phrase: to put yourself in someone elses shoes.
Before he became president, Barack Obama exemplified the importance of empathy and
see[ing] the world through the eyes of those who are different from usthe child
whos hungry, the steelworker whos been laid off, the family who lost the entire
life they built together when the storm came to townWhen you think like this
when you choose to broaden your ambit of concern and empathize with the plight
of others whether they are close friends or distant strangersit becomes harder
not to act, harder not to help. (Bloom)
Throughout Obamas campaignand throughout both his termshe advocated the importance
of empathy. Particularly in this quote, Obama summarizes and exemplifies the empathy-

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altruism theory, a well-supported theory that bolsters the argument for empathys significance.
Bloom explains this basis of this theory in his article: when you empathize with others, you are
more likely to help them. It indicates that empathy does not remain stagnant. It is living. It is
dynamic. It travels and meanders its way into our souls. And ultimately empathy moves us.
Rather than remaining where we are, empathy urges us to break free of our force fields of
comfort and security, to open up our eyes and recognize the different kinds of pain that we are
privileged enough to not endure. Thus, in this way, can we not say that empathy is only capable
of being beneficial?
In Against Empathy, Paul Bloom answers no. He questions the benefits of empathy,
claiming that to be good and to do good, empathy is a poor guide. To Bloom, empathy means
to [experience] the world as others doto feel [their] pain, but this to him is often extremely
harmful and unreliable in many aspects of our world, asserting that empathy is too biased and
narrow to be used for practical decisions, public policy, and everyday life. He even paints
people who are innately overly empathetic to seem like they suffer from an uncontrollable
disorder. Through the example of a psychotherapist named Hannah, from psychologist Simon
Baron-Cohens book, The Science of Evil, Bloom paints the personage of a woman who has an
unstoppable drive to empathize and always has the feelings of othersin her head. He
suggests that her unrelenting empathy is compelled by hyperarousalan unstoppable disease
which drives her to a certain kind of selflessness that damages Hannahs wellbeing, sanity, and
even the people around her. According to Bloom, this psychotherapist with a natural gift for
empathy struggles with over-identification; she is mentally unhealthy and more prone to suffer
from depression and other similar disorders. This is true. In extreme cases, hyper-aroused
empathy drives up a persons chances for mental disorders. However, most people are not like

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Hannah; rarely is anyone ever constantly, ceaselessly empathic. While Blooms argument may
hold up in the polar extremities of the empathy spectrum, his argument frays when looking at
those in the center of the empathy bell curve. Blooms limited definition of empathy focuses too
much on the extremes and dismisses its important facetsincluding empathys bond with
compassion. Bloom asserts that rather than applying empathy, we need exercise more distanced
compassion, along with self-control, and a sense of justice. However, is it not from empathy
that these things originate? How can we deliver controlled, distanced compassion and justice
without putting ourselves in anothers shoes in order to first understand their circumstances? The
two go hand in hand.
According to Professor Nomy Arpaly, by putting yourself in someone elses shoes, you
gain the ability to accept evidence of another persons suffering even when ones imagination
fails. Empathy makes it easier to believe a persons struggles and harder to dismiss them.
Without it, others suffering can be invisible to us because our own troubles blind us, clouding
our perceptions and ability to see outside of ourselves (Arpaly). If unable look past our own lives
and our own struggles, we limit our vision of the world and the issues that are greater than us.
Thus, empathy is not merely feeling someone elses feelings; empathy is expanding your
perception beyond your singular life, towards the lives of your neighbor, the man on the street,
the lady on the subway, the child across the globe. While Blooms conception of empathetic
over-identification still remains an issue, empathy is not reducible to mere over-identification
empathy is much larger than Paul Bloom suggests. Rather, Arpaly argues that empathy is bigger
than us. It expands our imaginations and is truly invaluable in the way it allows us to imagine
another persons life andaccept evidence of another persons suffering. Although we may
have never experienced [a certain] kind of despair, empathy allows us to see others lives and

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struggles in new ways, even in the face of our sharpest disagreements. By putting ourselves in
someone elses shoes our minds are developed to contemplate and imagine whole new worlds.
Empathy, ultimately, forces us beyond our narrow vision.
It seems then that empathy is not, as Paul Bloom says, a poor guide. It can be a great
oneguiding us to help others and expand our perceptions in everyday life. But as Arpaly also
stresses, empathy cannot in itself make a person good. Empathy is not equal to good, to
kindness, to compassion. But neither are these concepts entirely separate entities from empathy
as Bloom suggests. Rather, empathy fosters those things. Through empathy, we find in ourselves
goodness, kindness, and compassion to give to whom we are empathizing with.
Thus, empathy is selflessand furthermore, in high demand. In Arpalys article, she
reveals that people who suffered from severe depression[say] they wish their families had
shown greater empathy. Does this reveal that empathy is only limited when it is absent?
In Between the World and Me: Empathy Is a Privilege, John Paul Rollert furthers
explores this selfless empathy, claiming that a capacity for empathy relies not only on a
willingness to step into the shoes of another person, but the ability to step away from yourself.
Through this concept of stepping away, Rollert further broadens Arpalys notion of empathetic
imagination, getting closer to the true multifaceted essence of empathyand even tying back in
parts of Blooms original argument. When you step away from yourself, you incur a cost; you
must lose yourself to gain another. This concept is evident in Blooms example of the overly
empathetic psychotherapist whoinvoluntaryimmerses herself wholly into her patients and
friends problems and pays the cost of such over-identification with her mental health and even
physical vigor. Therefore, it is evident that empathy comes with a price; it has its limits.

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In his article, Rollert analyzes Ta-Nehisi Coates argument against Barack Obamas
appraisal of empathy as an important part of mending contemporary societal issues, such as
profound institutional barriers, failing inner city schools, racial bias in criminal-justice
proceedingsthat disproportionately afflict minority communities. Rather than seeing progress
and change in empathy like Obama, Coates deems empathy worthless to those who suffer from
racial discrimination and structural racism. Obamaand those far from the reach of racism
can stand in [the] shoes [of those discriminated against] and see the world through their eyes
[and] can always step back again and gain a different perspective. However, those stuck in the
system of structural racism unwillingly find themselves in a dark place, in a situation darker than
the skin that sets them apart and determines how they are treated. Black Americans cannot afford
empathy, cannot afford to give themselves to another person because they are already taken by a
culture concerned chiefly with securing the body, a society Coates claims dislodges brains,
blocks airways, rips muscle, extracts organs, cracks bones, breaks teeth. How can you leave
your own world behind to enter into another iflike Coates and countless other African
Americansyou are haunted by a life hemmed in by fear [in which you must] be
viscerally present, at every moment, to the darkest possibilities? Within such hopeless
circumstances, the imaginative escape of empathy is rendered impossible because your world
makes your flesh unforgettableyou cannot step away from yourself and your own
unavoidable and ever-so-present life.
Do these limits then reduce empathy to yet another object of racial stratification that we
must tackle? Is empathy then completely rendered evil in this way? Or do the privileged benefits
of empathy overshadow the implications of its limits? Ultimately, we must come to terms with
the fact that the benefits and limits coexist. While empathy can encourage hope, it can also

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discourage it. And for as long as the system of structural racism and discrimination pervades
everyday life in America, empathy will be inaccessible to a disadvantaged portion of the
population. But even with its barriers, empathy holds the potential to destroy the racial walls that
encourage inequality. While sanctifying empathy as a foolproof solution to societys largest
issues would be incredulous, empathys ability to expand perspectives proves to be the first step
to strengthening bonds within different communitiesthus igniting the hope of a tangible
equality, the hope of the freedom from despair necessary to ultimately overcome the
discrimination embedded into the deep-rooted infrastructure of American society.

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Works Cited
Arpaly, Nomy. "Against Empathy." Against Empathy. Boston Review, 26 Aug. 2014. Web. 08
Nov. 2015.
Bloom, Paul. "Against Empathy." Against Empathy. Boston Review, 10 Sept. 2014. Web. 08
Nov. 2015.
Rollert, John Paul. "Between the World and Me: Empathy Is a Privilege." The Atlantic. Atlantic
Media Company, 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.

Acknowledgements
First and foremost, my gratitude goes out to sketchy bus rides to Raleigh, North Carolina.
If I had never been cold and scared for a solid 9 hours, I would never have been urged to
proofread my essay over [insert astronomical number here] times in order to make the hours go
by faster. I would also like to give an enormous thank you to Malli Fowler whose tweet reminded
me that Grace Yun does not give up nor not attempt all things wholeheartedly, to the best of her
ability. Furthermore, I want thank Meghna Rangan, who had to read my awful first draft and
showed me where I needed more evidence (and has also brightened my NYU experience since
day 1). Next, I would like to thank Eunice Kwak and her unbelievable plush bed for keeping me
focused as I completely restructured my essay.
Through the course of this progression, Ive learned the concepts of dialectical reasoning
and merging multiple sources. In addition, I have gotten better at using rhetorical questions,
implementing them in ways that push my essay forward. While I am continuing to learn more
about getting closer to my evidence and inserting my own analysis, I have trouble expanding on
ideas thoroughly and concluding in a way that brings something relevant and new to the table.

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