The problem with the social sciences and helping professions (psychiatry, psychology, etc.) is their unavoidable tendency to objectify people, which of course acts as a barrier to empathy and creates a counterproductive hierarchic relationship between the scientist/therapist and the subject/patient. In fact, the former might well be called "social" "sciences" since they so often manage to make a mockery of both true science and honest human interchange.
The pretensions of the social sciences and helping professions pose a serious threat to democracy, since these disciplines contribute to the contemporary cult of expertise and encourage the public to distrust their own judgment -- which erodes their own empathic abilities, leaves them easy prey to propagandists, and lessens their ability to make informed demands and choices as voters.
No quality is more important to democracy than empathy and that nothing is more essential to empathy than a keen sense of self-awareness. I think Emerson gets a bum rap when his call for "self-reliance" is seen as an excuse for self-absorption. On the contrary, I see this as a call for individuals to be in better touch with, and more trustful of, their inner selves so they can have a better sense of their deepest motivations as human beings -- thus gaining insight into what makes *other* people tick and promoting more harmony all around.
Carl
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