Abstract
In 2009, following the announcement of the retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter, Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the first Hispanic and third woman in history to be nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States. Despite a strong, impressive track record as a justice and a legal scholar, Sotomayor found herself in a somewhat defensive position against attacks from many in the opposition party. Interestingly, these concerns were not spurred by anything Sotomayor herself had said or done—but rather by a comment from then President Obama that referenced her capacity for “empathy” as being an important and positive quality for the job. As the President noted, “I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people’s hopes and struggles as an essential ingredient for arriving at just decisions.”
Can I see another’s woe,
And not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another’s grief,
And not seek for kind relief?
—William Blake.
To love our enemy is impossible. The moment we understand our enemy, we feel compassion towards him/her, and he/she is no longer our enemy.
—Thich Nhat Hanh.
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This chapter is edited and derived from the following article, which originally appeared in the journal TechTrends (with permission from the publisher and editor). With thanks and credit to the Deep-Play Research Group and authors as noted: Boltz, L. O., Henriksen, D., Mishra, P., & the Deep-Play Research Group (2015). Empathy through gaming—Perspective taking in a complex world. TechTrends (59)6, p. 3–8.
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Henriksen, D. (2018). Embodied Thinking as Empathy through Gaming: Perspective Taking in a Complex World. In: The 7 Transdisciplinary Cognitive Skills for Creative Education . SpringerBriefs in Educational Communications and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59545-0_6
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