Natural empathy is considered to be a biologically rooted disposition of human beings to share the emotions and feelings of others. Recent investigations of the phenomenon in the Social Neurosciences suggest a causal relation between empathy and pro-social behavior. Empathy is regarded as a common property of human nature which facilitates the evolution of cooperation and altruistic helping. This view is critically analyzed in the present article. The author argues that the current view on empathy represents an excessive ethical demand which disregards empathy's antisocial consequences. Recent experimental studies in die Social Neuroscience help to substantiate this claim by accounting for a rather differentiated picture of empathy. The article concludes with a phenomenological and ethical critique of natural empathy as regards its limit in human otherness and intersubjective understanding.

Enthalten in:
Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik; 2010/3 Kommentare, Studien, Berichte, Dokumentationen, Diskussionen, Rezensionen, Bibliographie (2010)

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Serie / Reihe: Zeitschrift für Evangelische Ethik

Personen: Klein, Rebekka A.

Schlagwörter: Ethik Empathie Neurowissenschaft Sozialität Ambivalenz