Evolutionary Empathy

“Is empathy valuable?” along with the question “Does being empathetic clash with American values?” are the two questions we had to answer in preparation for our socratic seminar this past week. In the beginning, I felt like I was giving my overall definition of what empathy was being a way to experience another person’s emotions all while knowing that the experiences are not directly affecting you. I was able to apply what we were learning in class about the Limbic system and see how developing empathy would create an evolutionary advantage. I read the article Social Connections Make a Better Brain which spoke about how when the brain is not doing an active task like a math problem or playing a game, the brain goes into a default network. This stage developed into automatically making us think about the thoughts of other people, their brains. I connected this to empathy because I felt like in order to understand where empathy comes from, we need to understand why we care about some people more than others, which I believe relates to the second question. In order to answer the second question, I had to define American Values. In my opinion, American values are subjective and we might see similarities between what many see as morals, but ultimately, we will not fully ever have a clear definition of what it is until we have all experienced the same things and seen America the exact same way. I’ve begun to see a darker side of the free country, one that involves a lack of empathy with capitalistic ways where the ends justify the means. With most of the country creating division, it is important to understand why we need each other, which is what makes empathy so valuable. By understanding where we have become socially connected, we can begin to see the value of empathy and the changes that occur if we have a lack of it.