Paul Bloom

Any simple claim that you need religion to be good is flat wrong.

— Paul Bloom

“Regardless of their sex, good-looking faces light up the brain”

— Paul Bloom

Stories turn anonymous strangers into people who matter.

— Paul Bloom

I love teaching. I wouldn't take a job that didn't include it.

— Paul Bloom

I think what a lot of fiction is, is the imagining of the worst so as to prepare ourselves.

— Paul Bloom

I think Americans are always going to care more about Americans than about Mexicans.

— Paul Bloom

I'm very interested in why we do good things, or bad things, and where moral judgments come from.

— Paul Bloom

What I mean by "empathy" is putting yourself in other people's shoes, feeling what they feel.

— Paul Bloom

Because of empathy, stories of the suffering of one person could lead us into a war that could kill millions of people.

— Paul Bloom

Empathy has some unfortunate features - it is parochial, narrow-minded, and innumerate. We're often at our best when we're smart enough not…

— Paul Bloom

If Inigo Montoya were around now, he wouldn't need to storm the castle to bring his father's murderer to justice; the police…

— Paul Bloom

We are naturally moral beings, but our environments can enhance - or, sadly, degrade - this innate moral sense.

— Paul Bloom

Modern science tells us that the conscious self arises from a purely physical brain. We do not have immaterial souls.

— Paul Bloom

I think empathy can serve as a moral spark, motivating us to do good things. But anything can be a moral spark.

— Paul Bloom

Even the charities I give to are related to things that touch my life, like the Special Olympics. I'm not fully rational;…

— Paul Bloom

Imagination is Reality Lite - a useful substitute when the real pleasure is inaccessible, too risky, or too much work.

— Paul Bloom

I think we should really discourage this sort of empathic engagement when it comes to making moral decisions. I think we should…

— Paul Bloom

Relying on the face might be human nature - even babies prefer to look at attractive people. But, of course, judging someone…

— Paul Bloom

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

We don't just respond to things as we see them, or feel them, or hear them. Rather, our response is conditioned on…

— Paul Bloom

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

The enjoyment we get from something is powerfully influenced by what we think that thing really is. This is true for intellectual…

— Paul Bloom

“the egalitarian lifestyles of hunter-gatherers exist because the individuals care a lot about status. Individuals in these societies end up roughly equal…

— Paul Bloom

A sympathetic parent might see the spark of consciousness in a baby's large eyes and eagerly accept the popular claim that babies…

— Paul Bloom

“In 1999, the anthropologist Christopher Boehm addressed this issue in Hierarchy in the Forest, which reviewed the lifestyles of dozens of small-scale…

— Paul Bloom

I think we're going to care more about Americans than Africans. I don't think that's ever going to go away, and I…

— Paul Bloom

My book is going to be called Against Empathy, which may give you a feeling for where my argument is going to…

— Paul Bloom

“Gopnik compares baby consciousness to that of an adult dumped into the middle of a foreign city, totally overwhelmed, constantly turning to…

— Paul Bloom

“It might feel, at least to some of us, that our opinions about issues such as abortion and the death penalty are…

— Paul Bloom

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

When people want to inspire you to turn against some group of people, they'll often use empathy.

— Paul Bloom

Humans are social beings, and we are happier, and better, when connected to others.

— Paul Bloom

I think empathy is really important for pleasure.

— Paul Bloom

The fact that something can be used for good isn't necessarily a knockdown argument for it.

— Paul Bloom

If our wondrous kindness is evidence for God, is our capacity for great evil proof of the Devil?

— Paul Bloom

A growing body of evidence suggests that humans do have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life.

— Paul Bloom

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

If you look within the United States, religion seems to make you a better person. Yet atheist societies do very well -…

— Paul Bloom

If evil is empathy erosion, and empathy erosion is a form of illness, then evil turns out to be nothing more than…

— Paul Bloom

Our best hope for the future [...] lies in an appreciation of the fact that, even if we don’t empathize with distant…

— Paul Bloom