Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

[pendell]

Empathy is what makes societies work. It's also the basic building blocks of our brain (see Mirror Neurons). Without it, you couldn't be able to perceive things from another's perspective.

So are you proposing demons don't have mirror neurons (new concept for me, by the way, thank you)? But that doesn't make sense. A quick google tells me that mirror neurons trigger either when you perform a motor action or when you see someone else do the same thing. So you don't have to do something yourself to learn from it -- you also learn when you see someone else do it. Thus, humans learn by imitation, especially children.

But .. if these neurons were absent demons couldn't mimic humans. They could not learn from observing humans. APA spells this out specifically : Mirror neurons are what enables us to learn by mimicry, and to mimic others.

THEREFORE, I infer that the observed ability of demons to mimic humans implies they possess mirror neurons. Adding the observation that mirror neurons are the basis of both mimicry and imitation,
THEREFORE, if demons possess mirror neurons they are indeed capable of empathy; it's simply a skill they've never had to develop, any more than a person dwelling in the sahara needs to learn how to swim. They aren't incapable of it; they just haven't had a good enough reason to develop it. Yet.

ETA: I also have to dispute the idea, even if it undercuts my own logic, that mirror neurons are all there is to empathy. Because these neurons are connected specifically to the optic nerve, to sight: But we can experience empathy and fellow-feeling from reading a story, or listening to music. We do not need to see a person to empathize with them. So while they may be part of the puzzle, I doubt that's all of it.


Respectfully,

Brian P.