{"id":1859,"date":"2026-05-22T10:51:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/?p=1859"},"modified":"2026-05-22T11:05:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:05:02","slug":"should-empathy-guide-our-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/ro\/should-empathy-guide-our-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Ar trebui ca empatia s\u0103 ne ghideze rela\u021biile?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-05d28090ab9719591c206a6f58272b50\" style=\"color:#75717f\"><strong>&#8211; after Lori Gruen &#8211;<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Should empathy guide our relations? after Lori Gruen\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hBrwTlYhjRA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Credits<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Writer and Narrator &#8211; <strong>M. Martelli<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Director and Editor &#8211; <strong>Aron Nor<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Art Director and Illustrator &nbsp;&#8211; <strong>Mina Mimosa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Music from <strong>Andrea Penso<\/strong> \/ <strong>Invisibilia editions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Video transcript<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:40px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-01.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1860\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-01.png 1920w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-01-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-01-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-01-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-01-18x10.png 18w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-01-300x169@2x.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s Gamma. In the early 20th century, her mother was captured from colonized Guinea, her father from colonized Cameroon. Her life unfolded under observation, extensively studied. Gamma was one of the longest-lived chimpanzees in captivity, and one of the first one hundred brought into the United States of America for biomedical research. She and others became part of an endeavor that ethologist and eugenicist Robert Yerkes started in 1925, popularizing experimentation on primates. It\u2019s not easy to find much about Gamma\u2019s life, but we know she enjoyed being a nanny, looking out for the youngsters. In the words of a caregiver, \u201cShe plays with them and grooms them&#8230;Most of the time just her presence is sufficient to quiet them.\u201d But she was never given the chance of mothering. Throughout her life, her children were taken away from her, experimented on, and even killed for human curiosity. Finally, a few years before dying, she was thanked for her involvement in research experiments, in an act of discursive recognition. The director of the facility declared &#8220;She has significantly enriched our understanding. For this, we are most grateful.&#8221;<a href=\"#_ftn1\" id=\"_ftnref1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But is it gratitude what we\u2019re supposed to feel? That weight in the chest, that knot in the throat, that concern in the brows? That\u2026 could be empathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a><\/a>A feminist contextual ethic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>American philosopher and ethicist Lori Gruen has long been engaged with animal questions. From an ecofeminist perspective, she wrote and edited a number of books, one of which is Entangled Empathy. She is the creator of a memorial for the first 100 chimpanzees used in research in the United States<a href=\"#_ftn2\" id=\"_ftnref2\"><sup>[2]<\/sup><\/a>, thanks to which we can find out some details about their lives, such as Gamma\u2019s. Or Bill\u2019s and Nana\u2019s, her parents.<a href=\"#_ftn3\" id=\"_ftnref3\"><sup>[3]<\/sup><\/a> Gruen often wrote about her relationship to chimpanzees, particularly to Emma, a chimp she befriended.<a href=\"#_ftn4\" id=\"_ftnref4\"><sup>[4]<\/sup><\/a> One time, after a visit, Emma offered Gruen a small bouquet of clover flowers. No one had seen her do anything like that before!<a href=\"#_ftn5\" id=\"_ftnref5\"><sup>[5]<\/sup><\/a> These interactions left an impression on Gruen, who continued to seriously think about human relationships with other chimpanzees. She said that \u201cRather than focusing on animal rights, we ought to work to make our relationships with animals right.\u201d <a href=\"#_ftn6\" id=\"_ftnref6\"><sup>[6]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gruen\u2019s concept of entangled empathy arose from within contextual ethics. For her, entangled empathy is a \u201cprocess [&#8230;] to develop a caring perception\u2014a recognition that we are in both obvious and more distant relationships with others and are responsible in these relationships.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn7\" id=\"_ftnref7\"><sup>[7]<\/sup><\/a> Her concept of empathy requires more than feeling what others feel. It\u2019s not just \u201cemotional contagion\u201d, but a process that blends affect and cognition, a desire to understand the other and act for their well-being. Gruen sees it as different from sympathy, which, for her, means maintaining a distant, third-person perspective, an attitude that runs the danger of being condescending.<a href=\"#_ftn8\" id=\"_ftnref8\"><sup>[8]<\/sup><\/a> Entangled empathy, on the contrary, calls for recognition of the relationship the empathizer is in with those they empathize with. It calls for a sort of being-together and a responsible moral involvement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To place this in the philosophical tradition, contextual, feminist ethics recognizes that moral experiences are too complex to be reduced to abstraction.<a href=\"#_ftn9\" id=\"_ftnref9\"><sup>[9]<\/sup><\/a> It would argue that categorical laws or abstract experiments, such as the famous Trolley problem, don\u2019t tell us enough about how we should act morally. Feminist ethics sees people as connected rather than neutral. It recognizes the impossibility of impartiality, and it looks at how relationships play out, instead of asking for perfect reasoning from one individual. It asks for constant responsiveness to our world, rather than hyper-focusing on situations of conflict or choice. Finally, in many instances, it refuses the separation between cognition and affect, proposing a theory of attentiveness that offers a political analysis,<a href=\"#_ftn10\" id=\"_ftnref10\"><sup>[10]<\/sup><\/a> not solely an ethical one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A form of contextual ethics, care ethics can incorporate an understanding of the economic, social, and political aspects of animal exploitation and abuse. Following the political turn in animal ethics<a href=\"#_ftn11\" id=\"_ftnref11\"><sup>[11]<\/sup><\/a>, it can include matters of justice among those of morality, attend to our relationships in their particularity, and reject universalisms. In practice, care itself can be instrumentalized or superficial, but it can also be careful,<a href=\"#_ftn12\" id=\"_ftnref12\"><sup>[12]<\/sup><\/a> considerate. Within this framework, entangled empathy can guide us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-02-Part-I-Lori-Gruen.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1861\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-02-Part-I-Lori-Gruen.png 1920w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-02-Part-I-Lori-Gruen-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-02-Part-I-Lori-Gruen-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-02-Part-I-Lori-Gruen-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-02-Part-I-Lori-Gruen-18x10.png 18w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-02-Part-I-Lori-Gruen-300x169@2x.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a><\/a>Complexities of entangled empathy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Empathy is not straightforward. Let\u2019s have chimpanzees guide us through what Lori Gruen anticipates as possible issues with practicing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A classic problem is the projection of our own desires and needs onto other animals. This can be a direct projection by ascribing our mental states to them, or a mediated one, by imposing our ideological commitments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An example of <strong>direct projection<\/strong> would be thinking that a chimpanzee with an open smile must feel happy. This is what can happen to someone who looks at Ham, the first chimpanzee who was forced to travel into suborbital space. Ham was stolen from his homeland and trained as a baby. Adult chimpanzees are too strong and too smart to be handled, so it\u2019s the young ones who are preferred.<a href=\"#_ftn13\" id=\"_ftnref13\"><sup>[13]<\/sup><\/a> Ham was meant to perform tasks in space to prove it is possible, and\u2026 he did! despite how stressful that was. On his early return, due to a malfunction, he was propelled with excessive speed directly into the Atlantic Ocean. His capsule caught water, and it would have submerged, were he not found in time.<a href=\"#_ftn14\" id=\"_ftnref14\"><sup>[14]<\/sup><\/a> Later, he is assessed to be healthy, albeit with a bruised nose. He looks around, confused and curious. At some point, there it is, his grin.<a href=\"#_ftn15\" id=\"_ftnref15\"><sup>[15]<\/sup><\/a> It is not a happy one. For chimpanzees, playfulness means only showing the bottom teeth, an open-mouth grin is the exact opposite, meaning nervousness, defensiveness or fear<a href=\"#_ftn16\" id=\"_ftnref16\"><sup>[16]<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" src=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-02.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1862\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-02.png 1920w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-02-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-02-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-02-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-02-18x10.png 18w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-02-300x169@2x.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Empathy, or the lack of it, is a core dimension in Ham\u2019s story. In fact, before his flight, he was called Number 65. A deliberate measure meant to put distance between him and any human involved. To prevent feeling and moral action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another anticipated problem with empathy is <strong>mediated projection<\/strong>. Gruen brings up a case of an animal protection organization that refused to provide enrichment to enclosed chimpanzees, not wanting to interfere additionally in their lives.<a href=\"#_ftn17\" id=\"_ftnref17\"><sup>[17]<\/sup><\/a> Their intentions were good, but their outright rejection of any human involvement in chimpanzee lives came from an ideological, abstract commitment that didn\u2019t take into account the particularities of the situation and the already existing entanglements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The philosopher identifies two other types of inaccuracies, epistemic and ethical. <strong>Epistemic inaccuracies<\/strong> are based on not knowing enough information to properly react empathetically, for the other\u2019s well-being. It might mean not understanding what their needs are, or misinterpreting them. This form of \u201cincomplete\u201d empathy can be mended by learning more about the situation.<a href=\"#_ftn18\" id=\"_ftnref18\"><sup>[18]<\/sup><\/a><strong> Ethical inaccuracies<\/strong> are more troublesome. For example, these could occur when a human scientist knows that a chimpanzee is in pain, but fails to empathize because it benefits their research. This form of willful ignorance shuts off empathetic and moral engagement for ulterior reasons. It\u2019s exactly what happened to Ham in his training. Afterwards, he was sent to be displayed at a zoo, where he lived alone for 17 years. Only the last five years of his life, did he spend with other chimpanzees at the North Carolina Zoo.<a href=\"#_ftn19\" id=\"_ftnref19\"><sup>[19]<\/sup><\/a> Despite paving the way for humans in space and being regarded as an individual, as one of the \u201castrochimps\u201d, he was not afforded a decent, dignified life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/print-screen-03-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1863\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/print-screen-03-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/print-screen-03-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/print-screen-03-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/print-screen-03-18x10.png 18w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/print-screen-03.png 1920w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/print-screen-03-300x169@2x.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a><\/a>Pitfalls with relying on empathy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Clearly, entangled empathy is a complex concept, and it has been criticized for trying to achieve too much and not enough. Its broadness might make it seem like it is about everything and nothing. Some philosophers were not convinced by its capacity to lead to action, saying that feeling what another feels doesn\u2019t tell us what to do next.<a href=\"#_ftn20\" id=\"_ftnref20\"><sup>[20]<\/sup><\/a> Diana Meyers prefers the concept of sympathy, considering it combines concern with a motivation to help, while empathy is too involved to lead to proper moral understanding and action.<a href=\"#_ftn21\" id=\"_ftnref21\"><sup>[21]<\/sup><\/a> Brandon LaBelle underlines that sympathy can extend beyond first-person narratives, towards \u201cethical responsiveness and reason\u201d.<a href=\"#_ftn22\" id=\"_ftnref22\"><sup>[22]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another issue is that entangled empathy, by foregoing abstract arguments, lacks a backbone. Principles, even if theoretical, guide us in a way empathy cannot. To go back to a previous example, a human scientist might refuse to empathize with a chimpanzee during experiments because they are committed to human exceptionalism. To them, human lives are more important than chimpanzee lives. Being guided by a speciesist principle, even if they empathize, they will not act.<a href=\"#_ftn23\" id=\"_ftnref23\"><sup>[23]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Relying on empathy for political action in the case of humans is strongly criticized in Aruna D&#8217;Souza\u2019s book, Imperfect Solidarities.<a href=\"#_ftn24\" id=\"_ftnref24\"><sup>[24]<\/sup><\/a> Coming from an anti-racist position, D\u2019Souza shows how empathy is based on understanding, thus fragile and easily twisted. Empathy asks the \u201cvictimized to narrate their conditions\u201d, as we have seen with the courageous stories of Palestinians in Gaza, living and documenting their genocide.<a href=\"#_ftn25\" id=\"_ftnref25\"><sup>[25]<\/sup><\/a> D&#8217;Souza argues this is a terrible burden and a task no one should be asked to do. It can be dangerous to put empathy at the heart of our social movements, for we know too well that it is easier to empathize with those we find similar to us.<a href=\"#_ftn26\" id=\"_ftnref26\"><sup>[26]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We wonder, can entangled empathy work structurally? For all its imperfections, an approach focused on justice and legal rights comes up with ways for society to change. In the case of nonhuman animals, providing them inviolable rights would mean that their lives wouldn\u2019t be taken anymore for the benefit of humans. At least in theory. Moreover, with the political turn to the initial rights theory, we can overcome having animals simply as moral patients, and learn to act together with them as political actors.<a href=\"#_ftn27\" id=\"_ftnref27\"><sup>[27]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Entangled empathy, however, seems like a path for the self to learn how to be in the world. Even if it is capable of political analysis and involvement, it\u2019s a process for the individual rather than the whole of society. This is concerning, because we cannot base social change on having a few \u201cenlightened\u201d individuals.<a href=\"#_ftn28\" id=\"_ftnref28\"><sup>[28]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-04-Part-III-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1864\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-04-Part-III-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-04-Part-III-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-04-Part-III-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-04-Part-III-18x10.png 18w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-04-Part-III.png 1920w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-04-Part-III-300x169@2x.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a><\/a>Why care and empathize across species&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Lori Gruen has answered to many of these challenges, strengthening her notion of entangled empathy. When asked why we should care about others, even those who are different from us, Gruen underlines the concept of entanglement. We are never alone, separate, entirely individual. We\u2019re always caught up in relationships with other beings, even distant ones. In this relational ontology, our agency is co-constituted. We, inevitably, care about others, because they make up who we are.<a href=\"#_ftn29\" id=\"_ftnref29\"><sup>[29]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Entangled empathy, in its multidimensionality, wishes to retain as much of the complexity of real-life moral reasoning as possible. This is why it refuses either-or terms, preferring to think-with, both care and justice, affect and reason. It is an answer to the alienation of imposed external principles that deem the moral agent to be capable of acting rationally, from a distance. Instead, entangled empathy intends to give a more meaningful account of how moral choices work, providing an \u201cembodied process of moral perception\u201d.<a href=\"#_ftn30\" id=\"_ftnref30\"><sup>[30]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn\u2019t stand aside from concepts of justice but simply criticizes them for often being disembodied, formal, and requiring assimilation to the already existing sets of laws. This does not mean justice should be replaced with care, but rather that it should be expanded to include things such as concern, and what anti-racist, Black activist bell hooks calls an ethic of love.<a href=\"#_ftn31\" id=\"_ftnref31\"><sup>[31]<\/sup><\/a> While other emotions can also be of guidance, both empathy and love propel us towards the other, putting us in a position open to solidarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This form of empathy requires us to ask questions, not just go with our gut feeling or abstract reasoning. We will always be imperfect in our understanding of others. Empathetic engagement asks us to recognize our conditions and those with whom we empathize, to see both similarities and differences, and enrich our capacities of comprehension. Some guiding questions for empathizing with nonhuman animals are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How were they shaped by their specific childhoods?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What are their species-typical behaviours and how do they engage in them?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Which social relationships are important to them?<a href=\"#_ftn32\" id=\"_ftnref32\"><em><sup><strong><sup>[32]<\/sup><\/strong><\/sup><\/em><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, these are not terrible questions to ask of humans, either, are they?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what to do with the fact that these transformations remain individual? It\u2019s true, entangled empathy doesn\u2019t offer us <em>all <\/em>the tools we need for liberation. It is just one block, but I would argue that it\u2019s an important one. We\u2019re faced with the same old story, the same tensions: do we need structural change, or individual change? And we know the answer is both. One leads to the other, in a loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-05-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1865\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-05-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-05-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-05-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-05-18x10.png 18w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-05.png 1920w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-05-300x169@2x.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a><\/a>The last 1000 chimpanzees<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking back at Gamma and at Ham, the cruelty of using chimpanzees in research is indisputable. They were chosen precisely because they were so much like us, almost human. They should have been so easy to empathize with! Yet it took many years for various countries to stop exploiting chimps. Beyond space flight, they have been instrumental in developing the Hepatitis B vaccine. They were also infected with HIV in multiple experiments, with the hope of finding a cure. While some European states outlawed their abuse a bit earlier, in the US, for instance, it was only in 2011 that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) \u201cconcluded that most ongoing biomedical research involving chimpanzees is no longer necessary.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn33\" id=\"_ftnref33\"><sup>[33]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Afterwards, Lori Gruen created \u201cThe Last 1000\u201d website, where we can follow the end-of-life of these complex, intelligent animal beings.<a href=\"#_ftn34\" id=\"_ftnref34\"><sup>[34]<\/sup><\/a> We find out about Ken, Candy, and Liza, who was born in the same year I was born! She was sent from the research institute to the Indianapolis Zoo in 2024. Trying to find out about her life there, I stumbled upon an article about a female chimp escaping their enclosure! It wasn\u2019t her, but another chimp, Mara, who was captured shortly afterwards.<a href=\"#_ftn35\" id=\"_ftnref35\"><sup>[35]<\/sup><\/a> Yet for a moment, I really wished it were Liza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-04-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1866\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-04-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-04-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-04-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-04-18x10.png 18w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-04.png 1920w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Print-screen-04-300x169@2x.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">*<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Humans continue to experiment on nonhuman animals, each and every day. Millions of them are bred, captured and stuck in labs, despite animal research being increasingly unnecessary and even ineffective.<a href=\"#_ftn36\" id=\"_ftnref36\"><sup>[36]<\/sup><\/a> There are also the ones kept in captivity for entertainment, or in the food industry. Our relationships with many, if not most, nonhuman animals, are indefensibly bad. It\u2019s horrifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the relationships we are in, we don\u2019t choose, not initially. Some we are born into, some we seek. Some are good, others are painful and exploitative. This is where entangled empathy can guide us &#8211; by recognizing these ties that keep us together, whether we want it or not. Our moral responsibilities are not zero-sum debates, and we should not weigh lives against each other, be they human or non-human. Whenever we do that, we\u2019re not thinking of how to structurally change things, but pitting ourselves against one another &#8211; an old tactic of a system that benefits from our loss.<a href=\"#_ftn37\" id=\"_ftnref37\"><sup>[37]<\/sup><\/a> Rather, we should acknowledge our entanglements, understand how our relations shape us, and how we can change them in return. For me, entangled empathy is a concept that holds the experience of being molded by my relationship with others, in this case, specifically nonhuman animals. It contains how learning about them, their needs, desires, and capacities, and empathizing with them, leads to a stronger commitment to their liberation. Gruen calls it a process, and I feel it as such: a web being woven towards a world I want to live in, pulling threads from the world that already is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-06-Part-II-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1867\" srcset=\"https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-06-Part-II-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-06-Part-II-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-06-Part-II-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-06-Part-II-18x10.png 18w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-06-Part-II.png 1920w, https:\/\/justwondering.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Scene-06-Part-II-300x169@2x.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-67551b465523f5a0a9c1bd2cbd971c0b\" style=\"color:#75717f\">Notes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" id=\"_ftn1\"><sup>[1]<\/sup><\/a> The first 100 Chimps. \u201cGamma\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/first100chimps.wesleyan.edu\/gamma.html\">http:\/\/first100chimps.wesleyan.edu\/gamma.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" id=\"_ftn2\"><sup>[2]<\/sup><\/a> Wikipedia. \u201cLori Gruen\u201d. Retrieved 15 February 2023 <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lori_Gruen\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lori_Gruen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" id=\"_ftn3\"><sup>[3]<\/sup><\/a> Or Pan\u2019s, who may have been killed by the US Navy in an accelerated gravity stress experiment. If so, Pan would have been one of the very first chimps used in the military space flight experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" id=\"_ftn4\"><sup>[4]<\/sup><\/a>&nbsp; Lori Gruen, <em>Entangled Empathy: An Alternative Ethic for Our Relationships with Animals<\/em> (New York: Lantern Books, 2015). Wesleyan University. \u201eProfessor Lori Gruen on the Last 1,000 Research Chimpanzees\u201d 2013 <em>&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G3HEdXEc95s\"><em>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G3HEdXEc95s<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" id=\"_ftn5\"><sup>[5]<\/sup><\/a> Purposeful Empathy hosted by Anita Nowak. \u201eExploring Entangled Empathy Ft. Lori Gruen w\/Anita Nowak &#8211; Purposeful Empathy\u201d. 53:40 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q7cY_UIrZmI\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q7cY_UIrZmI<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" id=\"_ftn6\"><sup>[6]<\/sup><\/a> Lori Gruen Website. \u201eEntangled Empathy\u201d&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lorigruen.com\/entangled-empathy\/\">https:\/\/www.lorigruen.com\/entangled-empathy\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref7\" id=\"_ftn7\"><sup>[7]<\/sup><\/a> Lori Gruen, \u201cExpressing Entangled Empathy: A Reply.\u201d <em>Hypatia<\/em> 32, no. 2 (2017): 1. doi:10.1111\/hypa.12326.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref8\" id=\"_ftn8\"><sup>[8]<\/sup><\/a> Gruen, <em>Entangled Empathy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref9\" id=\"_ftn9\"><sup>[9]<\/sup><\/a> Gruen, <em>Entangled Empathy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref10\" id=\"_ftn10\"><sup>[10]<\/sup><\/a> Carol J. Adams and Josephine Donovan, eds, <em>The Feminist Care Tradition in Animal Ethics<\/em>: A Reader (Columbia University Press, 2007), 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref11\" id=\"_ftn11\"><sup>[11]<\/sup><\/a> Robert Garner and Siobhan O&#8217;Sullivan, eds, <em>The Political Turn in Animal Ethics<\/em>. (Rowman &amp; Littlefield International, 2016), 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref12\" id=\"_ftn12\"><sup>[12]<\/sup><\/a> Maria Martelli. \u201cPracticing Careful Care &#8211; Towards Animal Liberation for Feral Pigeons and Beyond\u201d, in ed. Paula Arcari,<em> Heterotopia, Radical Imagination and Shattering Orders: Manifesting A Future of Liberated Animal<\/em>s. Routledge, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref13\" id=\"_ftn13\"><sup>[13]<\/sup><\/a> Wikipedia. Ham (chimpanzee). <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ham_(chimpanzee)\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ham_(chimpanzee)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref14\" id=\"_ftn14\"><sup>[14]<\/sup><\/a> As did Gordo\u2019s, a squirrel monkey whose capsule was lost in the Atlantic. He died on splashdown in 1958, when a flotation mechanism failed. Nasa, \u201cA Brief History of Animals in Space\u201d, 1988. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/a-brief-history-of-animals-in-space\/\">https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/a-brief-history-of-animals-in-space\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref15\" id=\"_ftn15\"><sup>[15]<\/sup><\/a> Astrum.&nbsp; The Tragic Tale of Ham the Chimp, 10:27. 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ya_1-8VzJlI\">https:\/\/www.yout ube.com\/watch?v=Ya_1-8VzJlI<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref16\" id=\"_ftn16\"><sup>[16]<\/sup><\/a> Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. \u201cFacial Expressions\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/chimpsnw.org\/2018\/09\/facial-expressions\/\">https:\/\/chimpsnw.org\/2018\/09\/facial-expressions\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref17\" id=\"_ftn17\"><sup>[17]<\/sup><\/a> Gruen, <em>Entangled Empathy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref18\" id=\"_ftn18\"><sup>[18]<\/sup><\/a> Gruen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref19\" id=\"_ftn19\"><sup>[19]<\/sup><\/a> Save the Chimps. \u201cHam, the First Chimpanzee in Space\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/savethechimps.org\/ham-space-chimp\/\">https:\/\/savethechimps.org\/ham-space-chimp\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref20\" id=\"_ftn20\"><sup>[20]<\/sup><\/a> Diana Tietjens Meyers, \u201cCommentary on Entangled Empathy by Lori Gruen.\u201d <em>Hypatia<\/em> 32, no. 2 (2017): 9. doi:10.1111\/hypa.12320.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref21\" id=\"_ftn21\"><sup>[21]<\/sup><\/a> Meyers, 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref22\" id=\"_ftn22\"><sup>[22]<\/sup><\/a> Brandon LaBelle, \u201cIntroduction to Radical Sympathy\u201d, Radical Sympathy ed. Brandon Labelle, Errand Bodies Press, Berlin, 2022, 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref23\" id=\"_ftn23\"><sup>[23]<\/sup><\/a> Kathie Jenni, &#8220;Review of &#8220;Entangled Empathy: An Alternative Ethic For Our Relationships with Animals&#8221;,&#8221; Essays in Philosophy: Vol. 18: Iss. 1, Article 11, (2017), 10. http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.7710\/1526-0569.1577<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref24\" id=\"_ftn24\"><sup>[24]<\/sup><\/a> Aruna D&#8217;Souza. Imperfect Solidarities (Critics&#8217; Essay Series), Floating Opera Press, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref25\" id=\"_ftn25\"><sup>[25]<\/sup><\/a> D&#8217;Souza, 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref26\" id=\"_ftn26\"><sup>[26]<\/sup><\/a> D&#8217;Souza, 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref27\" id=\"_ftn27\"><sup>[27]<\/sup><\/a> Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka, <em>Zoopolis: A political theory of animal rights<\/em> (Oxford University Press, 2011).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref28\" id=\"_ftn28\"><sup>[28]<\/sup><\/a> D&#8217;Souza, 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref29\" id=\"_ftn29\"><sup>[29]<\/sup><\/a> Gruen, \u201dExpressing Entangled Empathy\u201d, 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref30\" id=\"_ftn30\"><sup>[30]<\/sup><\/a> Gruen, 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref31\" id=\"_ftn31\"><sup>[31]<\/sup><\/a> Lori Gruen, \u201dEntangled Empathy: Politics and Practice\u201d In <em>Animal Encounters. Cultural Animal Studies<\/em>, Alexandra B\u00f6hm and Jessica Ullrich eds., vol 4. J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart, 2019, 80. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/978-3-476-04939-1_5<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref32\" id=\"_ftn32\"><sup>[32]<\/sup><\/a> Gruen, Lori. \u201cExpressing Entangled Empathy: A Reply.\u201d <em>Hypatia<\/em> 32, no. 2 (2017): 5. doi:10.1111\/hypa.12326.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref33\" id=\"_ftn33\"><sup>[33]<\/sup><\/a> Support for biomedical chimp research ceased only in 2015. Biology Insights. \u201cWhy Chimp Lab Research Ended and What Happened Next\u201d 2025&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/biologyinsights.com\/why-chimp-lab-research-ended-and-what-happened-next\/\">https:\/\/biologyinsights.com\/why-chimp-lab-research-ended-and-what-happened-next\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref34\" id=\"_ftn34\"><sup>[34]<\/sup><\/a> The Last 1000 chimps. <a href=\"https:\/\/last1000chimps.com\/\">https:\/\/last1000chimps.com\/<\/a>; Wesleyan University. \u201cProfessor Lori Gruen on the Last 1,000 Research Chimpanzees\u201c 2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G3HEdXEc95s\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=G3HEdXEc95s<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref35\" id=\"_ftn35\"><sup>[35]<\/sup><\/a> NY Post. \u201cChimp escapes Indianapolis Zoo enclosure, prompts lockdown that traps 37 kids on field trip\u201d. 2025. <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/14\/us-news\/chimp-escapes-indianapolis-zoo-enclosure-prompts-lockdown-with-37-kids-on-trip\/\">https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/14\/us-news\/chimp-escapes-indianapolis-zoo-enclosure-prompts-lockdown-with-37-kids-on-trip\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref36\" id=\"_ftn36\"><sup>[36]<\/sup><\/a> UCI Humanities center.&nbsp; &#8220;Alternatives to Animal Testing Replacement, Reduction &amp; Refinement in Practice&#8221; &#8211; Kathrin Herrmann\u201d 2021. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9daxtYixcpg\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9daxtYixcpg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"#_ftnref37\" id=\"_ftn37\"><sup>[37]<\/sup><\/a> Gruen, \u201dEntangled Empathy: Politics and Practice\u201d, 83.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8211; after Lori Gruen &#8211; Credits Writer and Narrator &#8211; M. Martelli Director and Editor &#8211; Aron Nor Art Director and Illustrator &nbsp;&#8211; Mina Mimosa Music from Andrea Penso \/ Invisibilia editions Video transcript Here\u2019s Gamma. In the early 20th century, her mother was captured from colonized Guinea, her father from colonized Cameroon. Her life&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-video-essays"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Should empathy guide our relations? after Lori Gruen | just wondering...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Should empathy guide our relations, or is it too fickle, too easy to misuse? 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