Perspectives Of Empathy Analysis

Kristen Albers
1/30/13
Connective Writing #1
Perspectives of Empathy In the first couple of days of class, perspectives of empathy from a liberal arts view and a neuroscientific view were examined. Although only two forms of empathy were discussed, there are many other ways to be empathetic towards someone or something. Learning about the liberal arts perspective on empathy was interesting because I have friends who do not “know how to think”. As a student at a liberal arts college, I already believe that I live life to the fullest by understanding what is going on around me and choosing not to be so self-centered. Compared to my friends’ every day lives, I feel like I enjoy life more than they do since they become frustrated with the
Listening to my friends complain about the littlest things grows on me much faster since we discussed “how we should think” and “how we should not think”. Another empathy perspective we talked about in class was the neuroscientific perspective. This perspective on empathy is almost like my neurons adopting someone else’s neurons. My neurons in my brain recall actions others have done before, and allow me to predict peoples actions and feelings. If I watch another person being touched on the arm, I do not actually feel them being touched, but my neurons empathize with the person being touched. To be able to physically feel the other person being touched, I can numb my own arm and physically feel the other person being touched. By removing my arm, we are taking away the barrier between the other person’s neurons and my neurons. The neurons in our brains
In a relationship, for example, if the boyfriend has a hobby he extremely enjoys like deer hunting and the season is about three months; there may be a conflict because he will not be spending any time with his girlfriend on the weekends for three straight months. The girlfriend may become very angry and upset if she does not feel empathy for her boyfriend’s passion for his hobby, and therefore she may irrationally end the relationship only because she did not understand her boyfriend’s feelings. Coping through this problem in a relationship follows what Wallace said about how we should think, “The point is that petty, frustrating crap like this is exactly where the work of choosing is gonna come in”; choosing how we think can help us make better decisions and be more happy. Wallace also says that humans natural default setting is to think, “that I am the center of the world and that my immediate needs and feelings are what should determine the worlds priorities”; if the girlfriend chooses to think this way, then she will be frustrated and mad in life unless she breaks up with her boyfriend. According to Wallace, choosing “how to think and how not to think” will benefit the girlfriend, if she truly loves her