We are naturally moral beings, but our environments can enhance - or, sadly, degrade - this innate moral sense. — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
I think empathy can serve as a moral spark, motivating us to do good things. But anything can be a moral spark. — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
A growing body of evidence suggests that humans do have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life. — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
I'm very interested in why we do good things, or bad things, and where moral judgments come from. — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
I think we should really discourage this sort of empathic engagement when it comes to making moral decisions. I think we should… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
Relying on the face might be human nature - even babies prefer to look at attractive people. But, of course, judging someone… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
Over the last few years, I've been focusing on questions having to do with the self, and questions having to do with… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
Strong moral arguments exist for why we should often try to ignore stereotypes or override them. But we shouldn't assume they represent… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
I'm not a pacifist. I think the suffering of innocent people can be a catalyst for moral action. But empathy puts too… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
If our moral attitudes are entirely the result of nonrational factors, such as gut feelings and the absorption of cultural norms, they… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
I'm really interested in the pleasure we get from stories and the pleasure we get from movies, and certainly the pleasure we… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
More-radical scholars insist that an inherent clash exists between science and our long-held conceptions about consciousness and moral agency: if you accept… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
When people want to inspire you to turn against some group of people, they'll often use empathy. When Obama wanted to bomb… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
I draw a lot from Buddhism, which focuses on compassion and kindness, loving kindness, as they call it, but rejects empathy because… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
Morality is often seen as an innovation, like agriculture and writing. From this perspective, babies are pint-sized psychopaths, self-interested beings who need… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
Part of the satisfaction of tattling surely comes from showing oneself to adults as a good moral agent, a responsible being who… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
“Moral deliberation has to be somewhere in the brain, after all. It’s not going to be in the foot or the stomach,… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
The irrationality of disgust suggests it is unreliable as a source of moral insight. There may be good arguments against gay marriage,… — Paul Bloom Copy Share Image
I have two teenage sons, and they're both surviving, thriving, and having a great time, and they're always on social media. — Paul Bloom Copy Share
Families survive the terrible twos because toddlers aren't strong enough to kill with their hands and aren't capable of using lethal weapons. — Paul Bloom Copy Share
If Inigo Montoya were around now, he wouldn't need to storm the castle to bring his father's murderer to justice; the police would do… — Paul Bloom Copy Share
Most of us know nothing about constitutional law, so it's hardly surprising that we take sides in the Obamacare debate the way we root… — Paul Bloom Copy Share
“Being a good person likely is more related to distanced feelings of compassion and kindness, along with intelligence, self-control, and a sense of justice.… — Paul Bloom Copy Share
Imagination is Reality Lite - a useful substitute when the real pleasure is inaccessible, too risky, or too much work. — Paul Bloom Copy Share
One way to make a baby cry is to expose it to cries of other babies. There's sort of contagiousness to the crying. It's… — Paul Bloom Copy Share
I want to convince you that humans are, to some extent, natural born essentialists. What I mean by this is we don't just respond… — Paul Bloom Copy Share
The fact that something can be used for good isn't necessarily a knockdown argument for it. — Paul Bloom Copy Share
Our best hope for the future [...] lies in an appreciation of the fact that, even if we don’t empathize with distant strangers, their… — Paul Bloom Copy Share
When people want to inspire you to turn against some group of people, they'll often use empathy. When Obama wanted to bomb Syria, he… — Paul Bloom Copy Share
I'm very interested in why we do good things, or bad things, and where moral judgments come from. — Paul Bloom Copy Share
I have my own difficulty with movies in which the suffering of the characters is too real, and many find it difficult to watch… — Paul Bloom Copy Share
I think what a lot of fiction is, is the imagining of the worst so as to prepare ourselves. — Paul Bloom Copy Share
Morality is often seen as an innovation, like agriculture and writing. From this perspective, babies are pint-sized psychopaths, self-interested beings who need to be… — Paul Bloom Copy Share
