| Empathy is a term we often use in moral life,but the definition of empathy varies greatly from field to field and from scholar.This paper has two main tasks.One is to point out the conceptual model of empathy which is suitable for the field of ethics on the basis of sorting out different types of concepts of empathy.The second is to explore the function of empathy in moral life.First,from the perspective of contemporary moral psychology,the author will sort out several different types of conceptual models of empathy,and point out which of them is more suitable to be used in the field of ethics.Secondly,there has been a heated discussion among scholars about the function of empathy in the moral field.One school of thought holds that empathy has a negative impact on our moral life.The other school of thought holds that empathy is a necessary foundation for our moral life.The author will apply one of the conceptual models to give some responses to the criticism of empathy.Finally,the author will try to demonstrate that although empathy is not a necessary and sufficient condition for moral action,as an ability that can be regulated,empathy still has a value that cannot be ignored in the moral field.It requires us to adopt methods such as imitation,imagination and perspective-taking to cultivate empathy. |
