Empathy’s purity,sympathy’s complexities; De Waal,Darwin and Adam Smith |
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Authors: | Cor van der Weele |
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Institution: | (1) LEI, Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Hague, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | Frans de Waal’s view that empathy is at the basis of morality directly seems to build on Darwin, who considered sympathy as
the crucial instinct. Yet when we look closer, their understanding of the central social instinct differs considerably. De
Waal sees our deeply ingrained tendency to sympathize (or rather: empathize) with others as the good side of our morally dualistic
nature. For Darwin, sympathizing was not the whole story of the “workings of sympathy”; the (selfish) need to receive sympathy
played just as central a role in the complex roads from sympathy to morality. Darwin’s understanding of sympathy stems from
Adam Smith, who argued that the presence of morally impure motives should not be a reason for cynicism about morality. I suggest
that De Waal’s approach could benefit from a more thorough alignment with the analysis of the workings of sympathy in the
work of Darwin and Adam Smith. |
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