Steven Pinker - The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

I was just reading Pinker's book on the decline of violence - fascinating, if not a tad long, but I was struck by this quote he had arguing for why empathy with the regard for human life began to rise during the 18th century leading to a decrease in violence; specifically, events like live cat burning and the stockades.  Pinker looks at many of the theories put forward and settles on the idea that the increasingly wide-spread ability to read because of cheaper books and an increase in the literacy rate lead to a growth in empathy.

"Reading is a technology for perspective-taking.  When someone else's thoughts are in your head, you are observing the world from that person's vantage point.  Not only are you taking in sights and sounds that you could not experience firsthand, but you are stepped inside that person's mind and are temporarily sharing his or her attitudes and reactions...Stepping into someone else's vantage point reminds you that the other fellow has a first-person, present-tense, ongoing stream of consciousness that is very much like your own but not the same as your own...Slipping even for a moment into the perspective of someone who is turning black in a pillory or desperately pushing burning faggots away from her body or convulsing under the two hundredth stroke of the lash may give a person second thoughts as to whether these cruelties should ever be visited on anyone." (175)

Another good argument to encourage our students to read both deeply and widely.