Empathy, Motivating Reasons, and Morally Worthy Action

Journal of Value Inquiry:1-13 (forthcoming)
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Abstract

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.

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Elizabeth Ventham
University of Salzburg

Citations of this work

Empathising in online spaces.Elizabeth Ventham - 2024 - Philosophical Explorations 27 (2):225-236.

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References found in this work

Knowledge and Its Limits.Timothy Williamson - 2000 - Philosophy 76 (297):460-464.
Knowledge and Its Limits.Timothy Williamson - 2005 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 70 (2):452-458.
In Praise of Desire.Nomy Arpaly & Timothy Schroeder - 2014 - New York: Oxford University Press. Edited by Timothy Schroeder.
Empathy and the Value of Humane Understanding.Olivia Bailey - 2022 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 104 (1):50-65.
The unreliability of naive introspection.Eric Schwitzgebel - 2006 - Philosophical Review 117 (2):245-273.

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