Why 'Evil' Is The Wrong Word - Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen (Psychologist)

In this episode, I sit down again with Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University - one of the world's leading psychologists, and author of Zero Degrees of Empathy. Is evil the best way to explain people who do cruel things? Simon argues that what we call "evil" is actually rooted in low empathy, not some inherent darkness. We explore the science behind empathy, examine the minds of psychopaths, narcissists, and those with borderline personality disorder (BPD), discuss what causes empathy to break down, and explore how we should respond to those behaving badly. The Human Podcast explores stories & ideas about being human. Audio Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2COj... Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Timestamps 0:00 - Does "Evil" actually exist? 1:40 - Simon's book: Zero Degrees of Empathy 2:50 - 2 types of empathy 4:26 - Psychopaths, narcissists, borderline personality disorder (BPD) 9:36 - Autism: The "Zero-Positive" profile 11:34 - What about sadists? 12:45 - How ideology creates terrorists 14:56 - Brains "missing a chip" 18:50 - Breaking the cycle of abuse 22:15 - Why we must consider empathy 25:23 - Can kindness stop violence? 28:43 - The motivation behind cruel acts 31:00 - Can you improve your empathy? 34:45 - Learning about the holocaust age 7 36:12 - The Nazi's dehumanisation 41:53 - Where did your empathy come from? 44:22 - Book's powerful ending Watch Previous Episode with Simon    • Why Autism Isn't A Disorder (It's A Differ...   Guest - Simon Baron-Cohen 𝕏 -   / sbaroncohen   Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_B... Zero Degrees of Empathy Book - https://amzn.to/4strUWg The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty Book - https://amzn.to/3NHkzDb Uni of Cambridge Bio - https://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/people/... Autism Research Centre (ARC) - https://www.autismcentreofexcellence.org The Human Podcast 𝕏 -   / heyhumanpodcast   Instagram -   / thehumanpodcastinsta   Support the show - https://buymeacoffee.com/thehumanpodcast Music License SyncID - MB01JIHRGHQFBB8