Does Compassion Lead to Chaos?

Note to Attendees: Please consider making a $5 donation to contribute to the running costs of this Meetup.

Compassion is often hailed as humanity’s highest virtue — a force for healing, empathy, and peace. Yet as Nietzsche warned, “Beware lest your compassion become a weakness.” What happens when compassion overwhelms judgment, or mercy erodes accountability?

Can kindness, unrestrained, sow disorder rather than harmony?
From well-meaning policies that spiral into dependency, to personal acts of empathy that enable harm, the tension between heart and reason has shaped moral debate for centuries.

At our next meetup, we’ll ask whether compassion, for all its virtue, can sometimes unleash chaos instead of calm. The questions we will address are as follows:

1. Can too much compassion distort justice or truth?
2. Is empathy always moral, or can it enable evil?
3. Where should the line be drawn between mercy and responsibility?

This event will be held at The Osbourne Hotel in Fortitude Valley. After the discussion, we’ll stay on for a meal and a drink together — a chance to continue the conversation in a more relaxed setting and support the venue.

PLEASE NOTE:
– This is intended to be a good-natured but robust discussion. Please be respectful and prepared to have your ideas challenged. If you are easily offended, this event may not be for you.