Yes, you don’t act because someone else’s pain is so painful—that’s a scenario that begs you to flee instead. But the detachment that should be aimed for doesn’t represent choosing a “cognitive” approach to doing good over an “affective” one. The detachment isn’t slowly, laboriously thinking your way to acting compassionately as an ideal utilitarian solution—the danger here is the ease with which you can instead think your way to conveniently concluding this isn’t your problem to worry about. The key is neither a good (limbic) heart nor a frontal cortex that can reason you to the point of
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