Empathy, Cruelty and the Origin of the Social Brain

 

SPEAKER: Dr. Allan Young

Professor in social studies in medicine, department of anthropology, McGill university


TITLE: empathic cruelty


ABSTRACT

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It is now widely believed that the discovery of the human mirror neuron system and the mapping of the social brain will transform popular understanding of human nature and the so-called 'problem of other minds' (mind-reading). Recent research into the origins and psychopathologies of the social brain emphasizes the evolutionary importance of both empathy and a previously ignored sub-type, empathic cruelty. In this talk, I will consider these claims and developments from an ethnographic perspective.


You can download a version of the paper here. However it has not been published and may only be referenced by permission of the author:


CH 1 - Empathic cruelty - 3.0.pdf