In Defense of Empathy: A response to Prinz

Abstracta 8 (2):31-51 (2015)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

A prevailing view in moral psychology holds that empathy and sympathy play key roles in morality and in prosocial and altruistic actions. Recently, Jesse Prinz (2011a, 2011b) has challenged this view and has argued that empathy does not play a foundational or causal role in morality. He suggests that in fact the presence of empathetic emotions is harmful to morality. Prinz rejects all theories that connect empathy and morality as a constitutional, epistemological, developmental, motivational, or normative necessity. I consider two of Prinz’s theses: the thesis that empathy is not necessary for moral development, and the thesis that empathy should be avoided as a guide for morality. Based on recent research in moral psychology, I argue that empathy plays a crucial role in development of moral agency. I also argue that empathy is desirable as a moral emotion.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2014-07-15

Downloads
2,707 (#4,006)

6 months
276 (#8,650)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Claudia Passos-Ferreira
New York University

Citations of this work

Sentientism, Motivation, and Philosophical Vulcans.Luke Roelofs - 2023 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 104 (2):301-323.
The “Social” in the Social Turn: Empathy, Bias, and Participatory Art.Harry Drummond - 2023 - Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology 9 (1):65-81.

Add more citations