Steve Taylor is a lecturer in psychology at Leeds
Metropolitan University, and the author of several best-selling books on
psychology and spirituality.
Author:
The Fall
"Just as the lack of empathy makes cruelty and oppression possible, the
presence of empathy heals conflict. The ability to empathize makes us
truly human, and the wider it stretches - from victims to offenders, from
one ethnic group to another, from nation to nation and religion to
religion - the less brutal and more harmonious a place the world will
become."
March 24, 2012: Empathy: The Ability that Makes us Truly Human
"Just as the lack of empathy makes cruelty and oppression possible, the
presence of empathy heals conflict. The ability to empathise makes us
truly human, and the wider it stretches - from victims to offenders,
from one ethnic group to another, from nation to nation and religion to
religion - the less brutal and more harmonious a place the world will
become."
Back to Sanity: The Power of Empathy; Healing Conflict through
Connection
"For me, this highlights the enormous significance of empathy. To a
large extent, all human brutality — all oppression, cruelty and most
crime — is the result of a lack of empathy. It's a lack of empathy which
makes someone capable of attacking, robbing, raping or oppressing
another human being. It's a lack of empathy for another tribe or country
which makes warfare and conflict possible. It's a lack of empathy
towards other ethnic groups, social classes or castes what makes
oppression and inequality possible."
