neural basis for empathy/conscience

[Neuromancer]

Hi...   Would anyone like to speculate on the neural basis of empathy 
and conscience?   Might an individual with damage to the links between
his midbrain (the center of his own emotions) and the left hemisphere 
of his cerebrum (the center of abstraction) be unable to abstract
emotions to other people, and thus have a greatly impaired conscience?
 
Is there enough known to dismiss this gross oversimplification of mine?
 
Glenn             glenne at csd4.csd.uwm.edu