The Socrates Cafe question of the evening – Is Morality Deeply Rooted in Empathy?

The initial impressions were favorable; morality is strongly tied to empathy. But what is empathy? Most of the group appeared to be conflating empathy, the ability to detect and understand another person’s mindset, with sympathy, which is a positive and favorable feeling towards the other person and their mindset. A late-arriving participant cut thru the fog and made the distinction. I finally threw in my .02, that morality is close to sympathy, but would not necessarily emerge from empathy in and of itself.

This question interests me given that I have certain behavioral and cognitive patterns that can be associated with Asperger Syndrome; mostly regarding my lack of EMPATHY. I am clearly not an “empathic” person; I have a hard time picking up clues about what is going on in another person’s mind. Once I get to know someone, I get a general sense; but for strangers or people that I am just starting to know, I am “mind blind”. So does that make me an immoral person? And thus, does that make all Aspies, people who are mostly “mind blind”, immoral?

I’d like to think not. I may not be a saint or philanthropist, but I do harbor some sympathy for the human race and for the individual members of that race; even if I don’t always understand it or them. It does NOT appear that Aspies are generally less moral than any other group; criminal disposition is definitely NOT associated with Aspergers. Some historical figures who are suspected of having Aspergers are Einstein, Newton, Emily Dickensen, and Simone Weil.

Present Aspie suspects include Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams and Woody Allen; all of them have had their altruistic moments. (Admittedly, the list might also include Hitler, Unibomber Ted Kaczynski, and serial killer Jeffrey Dalmer; oh well, every barrel has its rotten apples). In sum, it seems to me that morality is related fundamentally to the FEELING of sympathy for others, whether or not that feeling is informed by a keen understanding of the minds of others.

SIDENOTE: Aspergers is a “grab bag” condition, not something that has been strictly defined. Many people tend to think of Aspies as geeks without feelings, robot-like creatures who closet themselves at home with their computers. And yet, the truth is that Aspies come in many colors and flavors; there are artists, ministers, therapists, teachers, athletes and all kinds of other people who are far from the pimple-faced techie-geek.

As to myself, I don’t know if I have Asperger Syndrome in the clinical sense (and perhaps I don’t want to know). But I remain interested in the question, because I think the whole topic of what Aspergers is or isn’t helps me to better understand myself. And my own experiences might also help to better understand what Asperger Syndrome most likely is or isn’t, given all of the varying viewpoints in that regard. For instance, there’s a theory based on certain studies that Aspies have “extreme-male” mindsets and brain structures; under this theory, females Aspies have mental tendencies more typical of men, e.g. logic and systematizing, and male Aspies have even more such abilities than the typical man (to the exclusion of more female tendencies such as empathy and relationship-orientation).

This makes some sense with me; e.g. I am very interested in “systems analysis” and systemic things like transportation or communication networks, and I can be pretty clumsy with relationships. So it surprised me when I recently took a little mini-quiz that appeared in an article in the NY Times entitled “The Science of a Happy Marriage”. This quiz is a simple “fill in the blank” exercise to identify two words. The two word patterns given were LO_AL and THR__T. It turns out that men are more likely to identify these words as “LOCAL” and “THROAT”, words that do not have much emotional import. However, women are more likely to go with “LOYAL” and “THREAT”, which show a greater emotional and relationship concern.

So how did I answer? My mind immediately went with what turned out to be the feminine choices. I didn’t even consider the male preferences until I read the remainder of the article, which explained the male / female difference. Hmmm, that’s not what you’d expect if Aspies are all “super males” and I’m a Aspie. Either Asperger Syndrome is a more complex and individualized situation that is currently thought, or I myself am more complex and unique than previously thought. OR BOTH !! As Ron, the Socrates Café moderator wisely said, the answers to the most important questions often come down to this: “IT DEPENDS”.