Empathy

[partinobodycular]

I'm not an 'empathy only' moralist. Rather, I'm a 'compassion first' existentialist.

I've always had a hard time figuring out which philosophical box I fit into, but 'compassion first' existentialism would seem to suit me quite nicely... then again I'm probably too dim-witted to even know what 'compassion first' existentialism means. Still, I think that I'll add it to my checklist of philosophical boxes, along with Stoicism and Pyrrhonism. I'd add Christian to the list except that I don't think that I'd be very welcome there.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

I've always had a hard time figuring out which philosophical box I fit into, but 'compassion first' existentialism would seem to suit me quite nicely... then again I'm probably too dim-witted to even know what 'compassion first' existentialism means. Still, I think that I'll add it to my checklist of philosophical boxes, along with Stoicism and Pyrrhonism. I'd add Christian to the list except that I don't think that I'd be very welcome there.

No, you're not dim-witted and I think you get the gist of what I generally mean by 'compassion first existentialism.' By it, I essentially mean that on a merely human level, I see other people as being like myself---a struggling human being who has legitimate needs and wants to be understood. And this is well before I later bring in Jesus to also tell me, "Love others in truth and compassion as I do, first and foremost."

 

[partinobodycular]

The key reason our age likes empathy is because it excludes judgment: on the empathy ethic one does not ask whether the thing in question is good or bad, one is simply expected to "empathize" with it without judging. "Empathy" is the trojan horse for the increasingly popular forms of moral anti-realism and moral subjectivism.

To be completely honest, your problem wouldn't seem to be with empathy, your problem would seem to be with people using empathy as a cover for immorality. Which leads me to wonder, what lesson are we to learn from the story of Christ and the woman caught in adultery?

It seems to me that people will always use the compassion of others as a sort of 'get out of jail free card', but does that mean that that compassion shouldn't be given?