Empathy and Ethics

This book represents a unique indispensable reflection on the interconnection between ethics and empathy. To what extent is it right to be empathetic? Can empathy be unethical? Or is there an ethical obligation to be empathetic? Do we educate our citizens and train our professionals to use the right form of empathy?

Phenomenological ethics is a relatively new approach to ethics whose emphasis is put on the description of the lived-experience and the ethical phenomenon. The book is organized into three thematic sections: A) the main protagonists on the topic, B) the application of the results in psychology and health care, and C) further exploration of the topic in the arts. Each section will put an emphasis on one of the specific aspects of the interconnection between ethics and empathy.

The authors offer a phenomenological description of the thorny problem pertaining to the interconnection of empathy and ethics essential for professionals and scholars of different fields, such as philosophy, psychiatry, health science, psychology, and sociology.