Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

1-7-2016

SSRN Discipline

Legal Scholarship Network; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Law & Society eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; AARN Subject Matter eJournals; Cognitive Science Network; Anthropology & Archaeology Research Network

Abstract

The professor and Rodrigo meet after a long absence on his young friend's part Rodrigo explains what caused him to disappear during a momentary blackout at AALS He was kidnapped He explains how he managed to talk his way out of trouble by meeting his kidnappers on common terms This prompts a wideranging discussion of empathy and fellowfeeling Real empathy they agree entails imaginatively placing oneself in the position of another and acting in a way that you would want that person to act toward you False empathy occurs when you imagine yourself in the position of another and seek what you would want if you were he Rodrigo and the professor discuss how lawyers can avoid the latter and reinforce the former Otherwise lawyers can easily be like the wife who gives her husband a birthday present consisting of two tickets for the opera or the husband who gives her a lug wrench Along the way they discuss Inquispro a computer that can substitute for judges by applying its knowledge of space time and events to the law coming to technically correct decisions 100 percent of the time "” but with no discretion or room for empathy This chronicle discusses the role of lawyers in a world of human beings with fates fallibilities and feelings

Download

Share

COinS