Today’s Idea
Philosopher Peter Singer argued that morality is like a circle. At first, we only care about ourselves and our kin. Over time, culture and conscience expand that circle—to neighbors, strangers, animals, even people not yet born. The bigger the circle, the more progress humanity makes.
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The Expanding Circle of Attention
Think back to human prehistory. Survival meant caring for a small tribe—maybe 20 or 30 people. Anyone outside that circle was a potential threat. Empathy was local, not global.
Fast forward a few millennia. We now donate to charities across oceans, worry about climate change for generations unborn, and shed tears over people we’ve never met. That’s the expanding circle at work.
Singer’s insight is that morality is not fixed. It grows as we imagine ourselves in the shoes of others. Literature, media, and global trade all helped widen our sense of “us.” A novel about a soldier, a documentary about refugees, a story about a polar bear on melting ice—they all tug at our circle of concern.
History shows the circle widening step by step:
From family → to tribe
From tribe → to nation
From nation → to humanity
From humanity → to animals and ecosystems
And the circle isn’t done. Technology now connects us instantly to billions. The empathy we feel for someone posting in real-time from across the world would have been unimaginable to our ancestors.
But here’s the tension: our instinctive empathy is still tribal. Psychologists show we react more strongly to one child in need than to statistics about thousands. The circle expands, but slowly, unevenly, and often with resistance.
Still, the very arc of history suggests we are capable of caring more widely than ever before.
How You Can Apply This
Notice your defaults. When you feel empathy, ask: who am I excluding? Who falls outside my circle by habit, not by principle?
Read and listen widely. Stories are empathy machines. Read authors from different cultures. Listen to people whose lives look nothing like yours. It stretches your circle.
Act one step further. If you usually care for family, extend a hand to a neighbor. If you already give locally, try giving globally. Expand one ring out.
Think long-term. Decisions about the environment, technology, or policy affect people decades from now. Acting with future generations in mind is part of an expanded circle.
What To Remember
Until next time,
— Quiet Moves