The Dark Sides of Empathy

Many  consider empathy to be the basis of moral action. However, the ability  to empathize with others is also a prerequisite for deliberate acts of  humiliation and cruelty. In The Dark Sides of Empathy,  Fritz Breithaupt contends that people often commit atrocities not out  of a failure of empathy but rather as a direct consequence of  over-identification and a desire to increase empathy. Even well-meaning  compassion can have many unintended consequences, such as intensifying  conflicts or exploiting others.

Empathy plays a  central part in a variety of highly problematic behaviors. From mere  callousness to terrorism, exploitation to sadism, and emotional  vampirism to stalking, empathy all too often motivates and promotes  malicious acts. After tracing the development of empathy as an idea in  German philosophy, Breithaupt looks at a wide-ranging series of case  studies—from Stockholm syndrome to Angela Merkel's refugee policy and  from novels of the romantic era to helicopter parents and murderous  cheerleader moms—to uncover how narcissism, sadism, and dangerous  celebrity obsessions alike find their roots in the quality that,  arguably, most makes us human.