From: James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Date: Mon Dec 16 2002 - 17:18:52 MST
It isn't a lack of empathy that makes one a true sociopath. It is a
lack of empathy in addition to a lack of rationality that makes one a
sociopath. I can easily imagine an entity that is devoid of empathy
being a perfectly functional member of society as long as they are
rational. You might not even notice that they lack real empathy of any
sort.
I think a rational and intelligent member of society could fake empathy
with ease if they thought it was an efficient way to accomplish their
goals. Hell, that's what politicians do on a daily basis.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com
On Mon, 2002-12-16 at 14:40, Gary Miller wrote:
> I have always read that sociopaths lack any empathy and therefore feel
> nothing for their victims.
>
> An interesting question then arises: If an entity is not capable of
> feeling empathy
> (which implies having similar emotions) will sociopathic tendencies
> result or must
> trauma and abuse to the entity occur first to teach it the tendency for
> sociopathic acts.
>
> In other words do we have healthy individuals in our society today who
> feel no empathy
> and yet fit our definition of a normal functional member of society?
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