Empathy, Motivating Reasons, and Morally Worthy Action

Bibliographic Data

ID13598725
AuthorsElizabeth Ventham (0000-0002-8759-5339, University of Salzburg, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume59
Issue4
Pages827-839
Publication date2023-11-24
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Value Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-5363 • E-ISSN: 1573-0492
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s10790-023-09972-3
OpenAlexW4388971402
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited22

Contemporary literature criticises a necessary link between empathy and actions that demonstrate genuine moral worth. If there is such a necessary link, many argue, it must come in the developmental stages of our moral capacities, rather than being found in the mental states that make up our motivating reasons. This paper goes against that trend, arguing that critics have not considered how wide-ranging the mental states are that make up a person’s reasons. In particular, it argues that empathy can play a role in moral motivation when it is to some extent unconscious or it occurs far prior to the moral action itself

Action (physics · Cognitive psychology · Empathy · Epistemology · Mental state · Mirror neuron · Moral disengagement · Morality · Psychoanalysis · Simulation theory of empathy · Sociology · Unconscious mind · Ethics in Business and Education · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology