Varieties of Empathetic Philosophers


“If I could, I would make it so that everyone in the world could genuinely understand the perspective of everyone else; why they are frustrated, when they are, as well as why they are satisfied, when they are. I would like to grant everyone the capacity to see the situation of everyone else, as someone occupying that other person’s viewpoint, and feel what one would feel in that situation.” – Jason Stanley answers five questions for Yale News.

“A lot of the reason why societies don’t become fairer is that those who benefit from current injustice are spared the need to think too hard about what it would have been like to be born in different circumstances. They resist change from ingrained bias and prejudice, from a failure of the imagination.” – John Rawls’s life and ideas are briefly surveyed at The Philosopher’s Mail.

“Above all, cultivate easy and sincere friendships with kindred spirits and enter into them with generous sympathy.” – W. V. O. Quine gives some life advice.

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Granting someone a wish
Granting someone a wish
9 years ago

I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you

Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You’d know what a drag it is
To see you

John Protevi
9 years ago

I don’t want anybody else standing in my shoes. They are too tight as it is.

keaswaran
keaswaran
9 years ago

I’m not sure if this was entirely the point of your “varieties” comment, but it’s quite striking that Quine talks only about “kindred spirits”, while Stanley talks about “everyone else” and Rawls talks about those “born in different circumstances”.