Empathy and Virtue

This chapter is dedicated to the in-depth analysis of the link between empathy and virtue. The main claim is that empathy can be considered as a virtue, and to prove that, several topics are dealt with. Firstly, it is illustrated how empathy can be guided by phronesis and, thanks to it, can become a reliable ally of morality and a virtue in the traditional sense of the term. Furthermore, the moral benefits of feeling with (i.e. ‘empathy’) are made visible by means of a comparison with feeling for (i.e. ‘compassion’ or ‘pity’), and finally, the possible role empathy might play within Kantian ethics is here examined in order to demonstrate how even the supporters of a rationalist kind of ethics should not be too hasty in leaving empathy out of the picture.