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Originally Posted by WishfulThinker66
You make a very great case. You are right, it makes someone neither better nor worse for their level of empathy.... Well maybe. In my own opinion I am not sure how someone could lack any empathy or feeling at all. Is this not part of our human condition? I would suggest that someone who feels nothing and is ambivalent to the situations those around them are experiencing has some trouble that requires attention.
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Interesting question. Well, folks living with psychopathy do not feel empathy and they are still human. Not feeling empathy is not the same as not feeling anything at all, right? Psychopaths aren't in a vegetative state. I think they often have very high IQ and excellent problem-solving skills.
Another example is folks living on the autism spectrum. They have difficulty reading and interpreting non-verbal cues due to neurological differences, which makes empathy difficult, but they are still human of course. It also doesn't mean they don't care about others. There is some research on non-verbal children living on the spectrum indicating that their vital signs show improved wellness when they are near others as opposed to all alone. And folks residing on the spectrum can learn to read people better and develop empathy with help.