Cover

Half-title

Title page

Copyright information

Table of contents

Notes on contributors

I Introduction

1 Empathy, Sympathy, Concern and Moral Agency

1. Forms of Fellow Feeling

1.1 Fellow Feeling

1.2 Affect Valence

1.3 Affective States and Transindividual Affect Transfer Mechanisms

1.4 Content, Target, Object and Focus: The Case of Sympathy

1.5 The Obscure Target of Empathy

1.6 Consequences, Preconditions and Aetiology

2. Fellow Feeling and Moral Agency

2.1 Fellow Feeling and Prosociality

2.2 Two Distinctions in Accounts of Morality

2.3 Fellow Feeling, the Good and the Right

2.4 Sympathy, Empathy and Moral Agency

3. Conclusion

Literature

II Empathy, Sympathy and Concern

2 Empathy, Altruism, and Helping: Conceptual Distinctions, Empirical Relations

1. The Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis

Empathic Concern

Altruistic Motivation

Back to the Hypothesis

2. Antecedents and Consequences of Empathy-Induced Altruistic Motivation

Two Antecedents of Empathic Concern

Consequences of Empathy-Induced Altruistic Motivation

3. Evidence of Empathy-Induced Altruistic Motivation

References

3 Self-Recognition, Empathy, and Concern for Others in Toddlers

1. Introduction

2. Empathy Experiments

3. Mirror Experiments

4. Identification

5. Self–Other Differentiation

6. A Systemic View of Empathy

7. Conclusion

References

III Understanding Empathy

4 Self-Simulation and Empathy

1. The Compelling View: Subjective Engagement with the Other

2. Failure to Forecast

3. Forecasting

4. Perspective Taking and Empathy

5. Conclusion

Bibliography

5 Empathy as an Instinct

1

2

3

4

References

6 A Moral Account of Empathy and Fellow Feeling

1. Max Scheler

2. Fellow Feeling and Commitment to/Responsiveness to Others’ Well-Being

3. Fellow Feeling and Recognitional Attitudes

4. Common Conceptions of Empathy in Light of this Moral Analysis

5. What Is the Intentional Object of Fellow Feeling: State of Mind, Objective Situation

6. Barriers to the Understanding of the Other Required by Fellow Feeling

7. Difference between Different Forms of Fellow Feeling

Bibliography

IV Fellow Feeling and the Development of Prosociality

7 Empathy-Related Responding and Its Relations to Positive Development

1. Limitations of the Early Research on Empathy-Related Responding

2. Does Empathy-Related Responding Relate to Prosocial Behavior?

3. Empathy-Related Responding and Prosocial Moral Reasoning

4. Relations of Empathy-Related Responding with Aggression/Externalizing Problems versus Social Adjustment

5. Empathy-Related Responding and Self-Regulation

6. The Origins of Empathy-Related Responding

7. Conclusions

References

8 An Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Origins of Concern for Others

1. Introduction

2. Historical Considerations

3. Developmental Origins of Concern for Others

Sociobiological Considerations

Neurobiological Considerations

4. A Theory of the Development of Empathy in Humans

5. The Development of Concern for Others in Humans: Empirical Evidence

Typical Development of Concern for Others

6. Expansions of Research on Concern for Others

Developments in the First Year of Life

Empathic Happiness and Empathic Cheerfulness

7. Maladaptive Responses to Others in Distress

Surfeits of Concern for Others in Distress

Deficits in Concern for Others in Distress

Active Disregard

Passive Disregard for Others

8. Reflections and Future Directions

Motives for Prosocial Behavior

Nature and Nurture

Cognition and Emotion

Kith, Kin, and Beyond

References

9 Sophisticated Concern in Early Childhood

1. Multidetermined Empathic Concern

Empirical Examination of Hoffman’s Theory

2. Context-Dependent Empathic Concern

3. Adult Empathic Responding: Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processes

Bottom-Up Empathic Processes

Top-Down Processes

4. Multidetermined and Context-Dependent Empathic Responding in Development

Can Top-Down Processes Generate Empathic Responses in Children?

Can Top-Down Processes Modulate Empathic Responses in Children?

5. The Mechanisms of Development

6. Multidetermined and Context-Dependent Prosocial Behavior

7. Future Directions and Conclusions

References

V Empathy and Morality

10 Is Empathy Required for Making Moral Judgments?

1. Hume’s Account of Our Moral Sensibilities

2. A Problem with Hume’s Account

3. A Proposal

4. Metaethics

5. Two Ways of Making Moral Judgments

6. A Kantian Objection

References

11 The Empathy in Moral Obligation

1. Semantic and Methodological Preliminaries

Moral Obligation

Morality

Methodology

2. The Emotional Construction of Moral Obligation, Stage I

3. The Emotional Construction of Moral Obligation, Stage II

4. The Emotional Construction of Moral Obligation, Stage III

5. The Emotional Construction of Moral Obligation, Stage IV

6. Moral Obligation

7. Some Consequences for Deontic Moral Judgements

Bibliography

12 Empathy and Reciprocating Attitudes

1. Reciprocal Attitudes

2. Reactive, Second- Personal Attitudes and Reciprocity

3. Blame and Guilt as Reciprocating Attitudes

Bibligraphy

13 The Role of Empathy in an Agential Account of Morality: Lessons from Autism and Psychopathy

1. Introduction

How the (Possibly) Constitutive Role of Empathy for Morality Ought to Be Conceived

2. Empathy and Morality in Autism and Psychopathy

3. Conceptual Issues Regarding Moral Agency

4. Conclusion

Acknowledgements

References

Author Index

Subject Index