#393 Paul Bloom: Moral Development, Empathy, Pleasure and/in Pain
RECORDED ON NOVEMBER 10th 2020.
Dr. Paul Bloom is the Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University. His research explores how children and adults understand the physical and social world, with special focus on language, morality, religion, fiction, and art. He is the author of books like How Children Learn the Meanings of Words (2000), How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like (2010), Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil (2013), and Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion (2016).
In this episode, we talk about human nature and empathy. We start with a bit of developmental psychology, and discuss how we study babies, and how good they really are as models for human nature and the innateness of behavior. We also deal with mind-body dualism, and how people think about the physical world and the social world differently. We then get into moral development. We also talk about Against Empathy, the distinction between emotional and cognitive empathy, compassion, and psychopathy. We tackle the link between morality and violence, and we talk a little bit about dehumanization. Finally, Dr. Bloom lifts the veil on his upcoming book, about pleasure and/in pain.
Time Links:
Studying baby behavior and human nature
Mind-body dualism, and folk physics and folk psychology
Moral development, and what morality is
Empathy (cognitive and emotional), compassion, and psychopathy
Morality, violence, and dehumanization
Question from a patron
Dr. Bloom’s upcoming book, on pleasure and/in pain
Follow Bloom’s work!
Follow Dr. Bloom’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/3n6sruY
ResearchGate profile: https://bit.ly/3eJfJ2B
Amazon page: https://amzn.to/35iQIrM
Twitter handle: @paulbloomatyale