Nobody says “I’m going to spare some video game characters, because I like to think that someone would spare me”. There has to be some relevant similarity between the worm and me which would distinguish it from cases like that. It needn’t be causal, but it has to be something. What is it?
(And if you reply “video game characters don’t have feelings”, I would of course say that worms don’t either.)
making the world the type of place you’d like it to be.
“Type of place” is a vague term. Do you mean “the type of place where nobody steps on worms” or “the type of place where nobody steps on worms or people”? In the former case, I don’t care about making the world such a place. In the latter, I’d again ask what’s so similar about worms and people that putting them together forms a natural category.
It seems like the whole thing is based around the unsaid premise “worms are like people, so empathy for one has some connection to empathy for the other”. It’s unsaid because if you said it, you’d have to defend it, and I don’t think there is a good defense for it.
Eh, I think it’s possible that worms do have feelings. But even if they don’t, my mind is able to trick me into having empathy for them in a way which it doesn’t for video game characters. Are worms like people? shrugs I’m not arguing whether they are or aren’t. All I can say for sure is that something about them triggers my protective and benevolent instincts, and I have chosen to lean into that instead of rationalizing it away.
As for ‘type of place’, I guess what I mean is that I want the world to have more people with bountiful empathy. And I can’t very well be optimistic about achieving that if I don’t practice it myself. It’s not a utilitarian view; it’s an admittedly non-rationalized desire. It’s also very true that practicing empathy in this way makes me feel good about myself. I don’t know if I am looking for a little dopamine hit, or if it’s just in my nature to care about critters, but it makes me feel like a good person.
Thank you for pressing me on this to get me to do some introspection.
Nobody says “I’m going to spare some video game characters, because I like to think that someone would spare me”. There has to be some relevant similarity between the worm and me which would distinguish it from cases like that. It needn’t be causal, but it has to be something. What is it?
(And if you reply “video game characters don’t have feelings”, I would of course say that worms don’t either.)
“Type of place” is a vague term. Do you mean “the type of place where nobody steps on worms” or “the type of place where nobody steps on worms or people”? In the former case, I don’t care about making the world such a place. In the latter, I’d again ask what’s so similar about worms and people that putting them together forms a natural category.
It seems like the whole thing is based around the unsaid premise “worms are like people, so empathy for one has some connection to empathy for the other”. It’s unsaid because if you said it, you’d have to defend it, and I don’t think there is a good defense for it.
Eh, I think it’s possible that worms do have feelings. But even if they don’t, my mind is able to trick me into having empathy for them in a way which it doesn’t for video game characters. Are worms like people? shrugs I’m not arguing whether they are or aren’t. All I can say for sure is that something about them triggers my protective and benevolent instincts, and I have chosen to lean into that instead of rationalizing it away.
As for ‘type of place’, I guess what I mean is that I want the world to have more people with bountiful empathy. And I can’t very well be optimistic about achieving that if I don’t practice it myself. It’s not a utilitarian view; it’s an admittedly non-rationalized desire. It’s also very true that practicing empathy in this way makes me feel good about myself. I don’t know if I am looking for a little dopamine hit, or if it’s just in my nature to care about critters, but it makes me feel like a good person.
Thank you for pressing me on this to get me to do some introspection.