Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Moral Contours of Empathy

  • Published:
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Morally contoured empathy is a form of “reasonable partiality” essential to the healthy care of dependents. It is critical as an epistemic aid in determining proper moral responsiveness; it is also, within certain richly normative roles and relationships, itself a crucial constitutive mode of moral connection. Yet the achievement of empathy is no easy feat. Patterns of incuriosity imperil connection, impeding empathic engagement; inappropriate “empathic” engagement, on the other hand, can result in self-effacement. Impartial moral principles and constraints offer at best meager protection against these perils, and hence serve poorly in securing morally contoured empathy. More nuanced and practical guidance should be sought in normatively substantive conceptions of our roles and relationships and their defining moral stakes. These, joined with more abstract moral tools, can facilitate rich, narratively textured interpretations of morality’s demands. While the content of our normative conceptions must be continually debated, engaging in this debate is vital to the achievement of proper empathy, and thus to effective, respectful, morally healthy care of dependents.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baier, A., Postures of the Mind. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baier, A., The Need for More Than Justice, in M. Hanen and K Nielsen (eds.), Science, Morality and Feminist Theory, Supplementary Volume 13 of Canadian Journal of Philosophy (1987a), pp. 41–56.

  • Baier, A., Hume, the Women’s Moral Theorist? in E.F. Kittay and D.T. Meyers (eds.), Women and Moral Theory. Totawa: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1987b, pp. 37–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron, M., Integrity and Impartiality, The Monist 66 (1983), pp. 234–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron, M., Impartiality and Friendship, Ethics 101 (1991), pp. 836–857.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartky, S., Femininity and Domination. New York: Routledge, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beauchamp, T.L. and Childress, J.F., Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benhabib, S., The Generalized and the Concrete Other: The Kohlberg-Gilligan Controversy and Moral Theory, in E.F. Kittay and D.T. Meyers (eds.), Women and Moral Theory. Totawa: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1987, pp. 154–177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, S., Connections and Guilt, Hypatia 2 (1987), pp. 7–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blum, L., Particularity and Responsiveness, in J. Kagan and S. Lamb (eds.), The Emergence of Morality in Young Children. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1989, pp. 306–337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blum, L., Moral Perception and Particularity. New York: Cambridge, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blum, L., Moral Perception and Particularity, Ethics 101 (1991), pp. 701–725.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bubeck, D., Care, Gender, and Justice. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bromberg, P., Standing in the Spaces: Essays on Clinical Process Trauma and Dissociation. Hillsdale: The Analytic Press, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun, C., Standing for Something, The Journal of Philosophy XCII(5) (1995), pp. 235–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carse, A. and Nelson, H.L., Rehabilitating Care, The Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 6 (1996), pp. 19–35.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carse, A., Impartial Principle and Moral Context: Securing a Place for the Particular in Ethical Theory, Journal of Medicine and Philosohy 23(2) (1998), pp. 153–169.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, M., Thoughts Without a Thinker. New York: Basic Books, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M., Beyond Caring: The De-moralization of Gender, in M. Hanen and K. Nielsen (eds.), Science, Morality and Feminist Theory, Supplementary Volume 13 of Canadian Journal of Philosophy (1987), pp. 87–100.

  • Friedman, M., The Impracticality of Impartiality, The Journal of Philosophy (1989), pp. 645–656.

  • Friedman, M., The Practice of Partiality, Ethics 101 (1991), pp. 818–835.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilligan, C., In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilligan, C., Moral Orientation and Moral Development, in E.F. Kittay and D.T. Meyers (eds.), Women and Moral Theory. Totawa: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1987, pp. 19–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halpern, J., From Detached Concern to Empathy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Held, V., Feminist Morality: Transforming Culture, Society, and Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herman, B., Integrity and Impartiality, The Monist 66 (1983), pp. 234–240.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herman, B., Agency, Attachment, and Difference, Ethics 101 (1991), pp. 775–797.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, T.E., Jr., The Importance of Autonomy, in E.F. Kittay and D.T. Meyers (eds.), Women and Moral Theory. Totawa: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, (1987), pp. 129– 138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hume, D., in L.A. Selby-Bigge (ed.), A Treatise of Human Nature. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1739/1968.

  • Hooks, B., Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohlberg, L., The Psychology of Moral Development: Essays on Moral Development 2. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, M., Seeing and Caring: The Role of Affect in Feminist Moral Epistemology, Hypatia 10 (1995), pp. 117–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, M., Care: From Theory to Orientation and Back, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 23(2) (1998), pp. 190–209.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • May, W., Code and Covenant or Philanthropy and Contract? in S.J. Reiser et al. (eds.), Ethics in Medicine. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1977, pp. 65–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • May, W., The Physician’s Covenant: Images of the Healer in Medical Ethics. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minow, M. and Spelman, E., In Context, Southern California Law Review 63 (1990), pp. 1597–1652.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdoch, I., The Sovereignty of Good. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagel, T., The View from Nowhere. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noddings, N., Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M., The Discernment of Perception: An Aristotelian Conception of Private and Public Rationality, Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy 1 (1985), pp. 151–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M., Love’s Knowledge: Essays on Philosophy and Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M., Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill, O., Justice, Gender, and International Boundaries, in N. Nussbaum and S. Sen (eds.), The Quality of Life. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 303–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Overall, C., Surrogate Motherhood, in M. Hanen and K. Nielsen (eds.), Science, Morality and Feminist Theory, Supplementary Volume 13 of Canadian Journal of Philosophy (1987), pp. 285–305.

  • Pellegrino, E. and Thomasma, D.C., For the Patient’s Good. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piper, A., Moral Theory and Moral Alienation, Journal of Philosophy 84 (1987), pp. 102–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piper, A., Impartiality, Compassion, and Modal Imagination, Ethics 101(4) (1991), pp. 726–757.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J., Political Liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, H., Specifying Norms as a Way to Resolve Concrete Ethical Problems, Philosophy and Public Affairs 19 (Fall 1990), pp. 279–310.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, H., Specifying, Balancing, and Interpreting Bioethical Principles, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 25 (2000), pp. 285–307.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, W.D., The Right and the Good. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruddick, S., Maternal Thinking, in J. Treblicot (ed.), Mothering. Totawa: Rowman and Allanheld, 1984, pp. 213–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruddick, S., Maternal Thinking. Boston: Beacon Press, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sher, G., Other Voices, Other Rooms? Women’s Psychology and Moral Theory, in E.F. Kittay and D.T. Meyers (eds.), Women and Moral Theory. Totawa: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 1987, pp. 178–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, N., The Place of Emotions in Kantian Morality, in O. Flanagan and A.O. Rorty (eds.), Identity, Character, and Morality. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, N., Wise Maxims/Wise Judging, The Monist 76(1) (1993), pp. 41–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, N., Concrete Kantian Respect, Social Philosophy and Policy Foundation. (1998a), pp. 119–148.

  • Sherman, N., Empathy and Imagination, Midwest Studies in Philosophy XXII (1998b), pp. 82–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, N., Empathy and the Family, Acta Philosophica 13(1) (2004), pp. 23–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A., The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Amherst: Prometheus Books, 1759/2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, C., Decision Procedures, Standards of Rightness and Impartiality, Nous 31(4) (1997), pp. 478–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teicholz, J., Kohut, Loewald, and the Postmoderns: A Comparative Study of Self and Relationship}. New Jersey: The Analytic Press, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tronto, J., Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of Care. New York: Routledge, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Velleman, D.J., Love as a Moral Emotion, Ethics 109 (1999), pp. 338–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, M.U., Moral Particularity, Metaphilosophy 18 (1987), pp. 171–185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, M.U., Moral Understandings: Alternative “Epistemology” for a Feminist Ethics, Hypatia 4 (1989), pp. 15–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, M.U., Partial Consideration, Ethics 101 (1991), pp. 758–774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, M.U., Keeping Moral Space Open: New Images of Ethics Consulting, Hastings Center Report 23 (1993), pp. 33–40.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Young, I.M., Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Georgetown University, USA

    Alisa L. Carse

Authors
  1. Alisa L. Carse
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Carse, A.L. The Moral Contours of Empathy. Ethic Theory Moral Prac 8, 169–195 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-005-3291-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-005-3291-7

Key Words

Search

Navigation