Is empathy always good? Well, one would say that like every other thing, it's good when within limit. But now "limit" itself has very personalized form and definition.
And the worst thing is it affects, interferes and even directs your actions and rational behavior even without you realizing about it. Thinking? Disagreeing? Just think of some instance when you discovered about someone in your circle to be from the same school of thought (may be political ideology, (non)religious view, tradition, region etc), doesn’t it suddenly increase your comfort, respect, attachment for that person? Thinking from pure logical point of view, does being from same school of thought make the other person more trustworthy/useful/productive/capable?
Don't we support some sports teams/players based on our idea of region/country/religion/economic status and ignoring the fact which team has got more talent or which team has put in how much hard work?
What if you are conducting an interview, will you be able to control your bias unless you are aware of your natural bias? Very difficult indeed.
Another extreme is when you realize your natural bias and try to defeat the effect of this bias and being over-cautious, become negatively biased.
Is there any solution? How to maintain balance between rationality(or rationalism) and empathy?
Sorry, I don't have an answer :(
I am myself in search of..
