Zero Degrees of Empathy: Exploring Explanations of Human Cruelty & Kindness

Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge gives the keynote speech at The Forgiveness Project’s fourth annual lecture. This will be followed by a panel discussion with Mary Foley, Peter Woolf & Marina Cantacuzino, Chaired by Fergal Keane.

Biographies

Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is Director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) in Cambridge. His books include Mindblindness, The Essential Difference: Men, Women and the Extreme Male Brain, Zero Degrees of Empathy and Prenatal Testosterone in Mind. He has been awarded prizes from the American Psychological Association, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA), and the British Psychological Society (BPS) for his research into autism.

Mary Foley
During a birthday party in East London in 2005, Mary Foley’s 15-year-old daughter, Charlotte, was murdered by a young woman in an unprovoked attack. Mary has since corresponded with her daughter’s killer who received a life sentence. For five years she has shared her story in The Forgiveness Project’s RESTORE prison programme.

Peter Woolf
In March 2002, Peter Woolf broke into the home of businessman, Will Riley. It would have been just another crime in a catalogue of offences spread over 30 years had Peter not then been invited to meet Will at a Restorative Justice conference. As a result Peter now devotes his life to promoting restorative principles, including working as a facilitator for The Forgiveness Project’s RESTORE prison programme.

Marina Cantacuzino worked as a freelance journalist for 20 years until, in 2003 - in the lead up to the Iraq War - she started collecting personal stories of atrocity and terrorism which drew a line under the dogma of vengeance. The stories formed a body of work in the celebrated F Word exhibition and led to Marina founding The Forgiveness Project.

Fergal Keane is a journalist, BBC correspondent and author. Keane co-founded the UK-based Third World development agency Msaada, which assists survivors of the Rwandan genocide.

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