This is a linkpost for http://putanumonit.com/2016/10/06/theory-of-an-immoral-sentiment/
I am very much in favor of "expanding the circle of empathy". My thesis is that this consists of supplanting your emotional empathy (who your heart beats in harmony with naturally) with cognitive empathy (who your brain tells you is worthy of empathy even if you don't really feel their Tajik feelings).
I think that "supplant" is not the right move. I do agree that having a wide circle does not require going around feeling lots of emotional empathy for everyone, but I think that emotional empathy helps with getting the circle to expand. A one-time experience of emotional empathy (e.g., from watching a movie about an Iranian family) can lead to a permanent expansion in the circle of concern (e.g., thinking of the Tajiks as people who count, even if you don't actively feel emotional empathy for them in the moment).
A hypothesis: counterfactual em...