{"id":1203,"date":"2018-05-20T16:39:39","date_gmt":"2018-05-20T16:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/?p=1203"},"modified":"2018-05-21T09:17:51","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T09:17:51","slug":"empathy-and-morality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/empathy-compassion\/empathy-and-morality","title":{"rendered":"Empathy and Morality"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>I (yes, I) contend that morality of a really human kind is basically based on empathy. Rationality is its servant.<\/h3>\n<p>[This text is a continuation on \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog?p=1199\">Landscape of Empathy\u2019<\/a>.]<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>One may recognize a quote from the Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cReason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.\u201d [<em>Treatise on Human Nature<\/em><em>]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Of course, he meant with \u2018passion\u2019 \u2013 as child of <em>his<\/em> time \u2013 anything that can act as a motivation.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Cultural morality (may be worldwide)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>At this level, rationality should prevail completely. However, this rationality should be basically based on empathy. It is rationality <em>about<\/em> empathy. The empathy of human beings. Or more broadly perhaps: the empathy of all sentient beings.<\/p>\n<p>This cannot, in principle, start from one purely rational rule that does not take empathy into account. Rationality cannot bootstrap itself into morality. Yes, I contend this. A purely \u2018rational, empathy-less morality\u2019 is no morality at all. It is just\u2026 rationality.<\/p>\n<p>Without empathy at individual level, the whole cultural morality thing would be for naught anyway.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Individual morality<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is about an individual acting in the moment as well as at longer term. I think that a good and concise take on morality at this level necessarily contains the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>caring \/ empathy<\/li>\n<li>Theory of Mind<\/li>\n<li>motivation to take action: one can also see this as a spontaneous outpouring of \u2018caring\u2019<\/li>\n<li>social learning: implicit (mainly nonconsciously recognizing patterns) and explicit (mainly consciously following conceptual rules)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here also: without empathy, no morality. Just\u2026 actions and non-actions, machine-like.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>What we call \u2018morality\u2019 has its history on planet earth<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>that is deeply related to at least animal evolution. It evolved from caring \/ empathy as this became more and more complex and \u2018deep\u2019. We humans are grandmasters of empathy in its use and possible \u2018misuse\u2019. Morality is thus also most important to us <em>for that reason<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>This is to me also a good way to see that morality is intrinsically bound to empathy. Morality is no more than one specifically evolved appearance of empathy. One may of course call anything else \u2018morality\u2019 but that is basically senseless.<\/p>\n<p>Morality is like a branch on the tree of caring-empathy. Cut off the branch and you will end up with a lump of dead wood. That would not be a rational thing to do.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Morality is not coercion<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You may recognize the pattern by now: \u2018morality through coercion\u2019 is just\u2026 coercion.<\/p>\n<p>One should not dictate how the individual MUST be moral as if this \u2018how\u2019 is everything morality is about. In most cases, it\u2019s only part of the moral happening and not the most important part. Moral rules are like the \u2018stones around the campfire\u2019 (a Buddhist metaphor) serving to let the fire burn nice and brightly without burning down the whole forest.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>The real goal is the fire, not the stones.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The fire in this case is the motivation to \u2018do good\u2019 at the personal level. This motivation to do good is part of a motivational network, that is based also on how the brain works. For instance, it\u2019s human to take care for the own child more than for one at the other side of the world. One should not \u2013 as a commandment \u2013 posit that a person should take care of every other person to the same degree, including even oneself. Now that would be an abstractly rational commandment \u2013 but not human, not \u2018empathy-competent\u2019.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Is this a plea for an imperfect morality?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Yes. But it\u2019s a human morality. A good cultural striving is a striving for good human beings from cradle to grave. Isn\u2019t that what \u2018culture\u2019 is meant for?<\/p>\n<p>People are not at first \u2018production units\u2019. They are at first empathically, thus also morally competent beings.<\/p>\n<p>At least, that is what I contend.<\/p>\n<div data-object_id=\"1203\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkwrap cbxwpbkmarkwrap_no_cat cbxwpbkmarkwrap-post \"><a  data-redirect-url=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\"  data-display-label=\"0\" data-show-count=\"0\" data-bookmark-label=\" \"  data-bookmarked-label=\" \"  data-loggedin=\"0\" data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"1203\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig  cbxwpbkmarktrig-button-addto\" title=\"Bookmark This\" href=\"#\"><span class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig-label\"  style=\"display:none;\" > <\/span><\/a> <div  data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"1203\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap\" id=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap-1203\"><div class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguest-message\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguesttrig_close\"><\/a><h3 class=\"cbxwpbookmark-title cbxwpbookmark-title-login\">Please login to bookmark<\/h3>\n\t\t<form name=\"loginform\" id=\"loginform\" action=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-login.php\" method=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-username\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_login\">Username or Email Address<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-password\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-remember\"><label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label><\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-submit\">\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button button-primary\" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I (yes, I) contend that morality of a really human kind is basically based on empathy. Rationality is its servant. [This text is a continuation on \u2018Landscape of Empathy\u2019.] One may recognize a quote from the Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) \u201cReason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can <a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/empathy-compassion\/empathy-and-morality\">Read the full article&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<div data-object_id=\"1203\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkwrap cbxwpbkmarkwrap_no_cat cbxwpbkmarkwrap-post \"><a  data-redirect-url=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\"  data-display-label=\"0\" data-show-count=\"0\" data-bookmark-label=\" \"  data-bookmarked-label=\" \"  data-loggedin=\"0\" data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"1203\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig  cbxwpbkmarktrig-button-addto\" title=\"Bookmark This\" href=\"#\"><span class=\"cbxwpbkmarktrig-label\"  style=\"display:none;\" > <\/span><\/a> <div  data-type=\"post\" data-object_id=\"1203\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap\" id=\"cbxwpbkmarkguestwrap-1203\"><div class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguest-message\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"cbxwpbkmarkguesttrig_close\"><\/a><h3 class=\"cbxwpbookmark-title cbxwpbookmark-title-login\">Please login to bookmark<\/h3>\n\t\t<form name=\"loginform\" id=\"loginform\" action=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-login.php\" method=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-username\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_login\">Username or Email Address<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"log\" id=\"user_login\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-password\">\n\t\t\t\t<label for=\"user_pass\">Password<\/label>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"password\" name=\"pwd\" id=\"user_pass\" class=\"input\" value=\"\" size=\"20\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-remember\"><label><input name=\"rememberme\" type=\"checkbox\" id=\"rememberme\" value=\"forever\" \/> Remember Me<\/label><\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"login-submit\">\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" name=\"wp-submit\" id=\"wp-submit\" class=\"button button-primary\" value=\"Log In\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"redirect_to\" value=\"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/form><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[12,24],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/144-1.jpg?fit=960%2C557&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Fdiq-jp","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1203"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1218,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203\/revisions\/1218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aurelis.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}