Boston Review Magazine Sep-Oct 2014 Back Issue

Our forum in this issue asks whether empathic identification with the suffering of others has the moral virtues that its proponents claim for it. Paul Bloom, Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University, says no. “If you want to be good and do good,” Bloom writes, “empathy is a poor guide.” Responses in this forum come from Sam Harris, Simon Baron-Cohen, Jesse Prinz, and others. Also in this issue, Lelac Almagor argues that standardized testing, subject to significant reform, may not be so bad; Bill Simon thinks that privacy may be overrated; columnist Claude Fischer wonders whether one of our mantras—ideas matter—is really true; as well as our usual selection of reviews and original literature.