Simon Baron-Cohen Interview

This isn't specifically about Autism, but in this radio interview, Autism researcher Simon Baron-Cohen raises some interesting issues about Autism and empathy. I found the interview fascinating.

Here's a quote from the interview that I found particularly interesting: "The fact that we see a good moral compass in people with autism suggests that a moral sense is in some way independent of empathy. So, empathy is one route to morality. People with autism seem to care about other people, they care about justice and treating other people fairly and they care about when bad things happen to others. It’s just that they may have trouble reading facial expressions, trouble with some of the cognitive parts of empathy."

The audio of the interview can be found here: http://www.kera.org/2011/07/13/empathy-and-the-origins-of-cruelty/

Simon Baron-Cohen's new book:

The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty