Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T07:28:24.135Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pity: a mitigated defence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Kristján Kristjánsson
Kristján Kristjánsson*
Affiliation:
School of Education, Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham, BirminghamB15 2TT, UK
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The aim of this article is to offer a mitigated moral justification of a much maligned emotional trait, pity, in the Aristotelian sense of ‘pain at deserved bad fortune’. I lay out Aristotle’s taxonomic map of pity and its surrounding conceptual terrain and argue – by rehearsing modern accounts – that this map is not anachronistic with respect to contemporary conceptions. I then offer an ‘Aristotelian’ (albeit not Aristotle’s) moral justification of pity, not as a full virtue intrinsically related to eudaimonia but as a positive moral quality that has instrumental value in developing and sustaining a certain intrinsically valuable state of character – namely compassion. The justification offered is mitigated in the sense that it does not elevate pity to a virtuous disposition, constitutive of the good life; yet it does offer a crucial counterweight to Aristotle’s own denunciation of pity.

Keywords

pitycompassionsympathyempathyAristotle
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 44 , Issue 3-4 , August 2014 , pp. 343 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ackerman, F. 1995. “Pity As a Moral Concept/the Morality of Pity.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy 20 (1): 59–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aristotle. 1941. “Poetics.” Translated by Bywater, I.. In The Basic Works of Aristotle, edited by McKeon, R.. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1984. “Eudemian Ethics.” Translated by J. Solomon. In The Complete Works of Aristotle, edited by Barnes, J.. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1985. Nicomachean Ethics. Translated by T. Irwin.Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 2007. On Rhetoric. Translated by G. A. Kennedy.Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Battaly, H. D. 2011. “Is Empathy a Virtue?” In Empathy: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives, edited by Coplan, A. and Goldie, P., 277–301. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ben-Ze’ev, A. 2000. The Subtlety of Emotions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blum, L. 1987. “Compassion.” In The Virtues: Contemporary Essays in Moral Character, edited by Kruschwitz, R. B. and Roberts, R. C., 229–236. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.Google Scholar
Boleyn-Fitzgerald, P. 2003. “Care and the Problem of Pity.” Bioethics 17 (1): 1–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Callan, E. 1988. “The Moral Status of Pity.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 18 (1): 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costello, W. 2013. “Pure Vices in Plato and Aristotles.” Accessed April 1. 2014. http://www.individual.utoronto.ca/williecostello/WillieCostelloPureVicesinPlatoandAristotle.pdf.Google Scholar
Crisp, R. 2008. “Compassion and Beyond.” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 11 (3): 233–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curzer, H. J. 2005. “How Good People do Bad Things: Aristotle on the Misdeeds of the Virtuous.” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 28 (1): 233–256.Google Scholar
Curzer, H. J. 2012. Aristotle and the Virtues. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D’Arms, J., and Jacobson, D.. 2000. “The Moralistic Fallacy: On the ‘Appropriateness’ of Emotions.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 61 (1): 65–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Florian, V., Mikulincer, M., and Hirschberger, G.. 1999–2000. “The Anatomy of a Problematic Emotion: The Conceptualization and Measurement of the Experience of Pity.” Imagination, Cognition and Personality 19 (1): 3–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garver, E. 2000. “The Contemporary Irrelevance of Aristotle’s Practical Reason.” In Rereading Aristotle’s Rhetoric, edited by Gross, A. G. and Walzer, A. E., 57–73. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Gerdes, K. E. 2011. “Empathy, Sympathy, and Pity: 21-st Century Definitions and Implications for Practice and Research.” Journal of Social Service Research 37 (3): 230–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goetz, J. I., Keltner, D., and Simon-Thomas, E.. 2010. “Compassion: An Evolutionary Analysis and Empirical Review.” Psychological Bulletin 136 (3): 351–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goleman, D. 1995. Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.Google Scholar
Gulliford, L. 2013. “The Head and the Heart of the Matter in Hope and Forgiveness.” In Head and Heart: Perspectives from Religion and Psychology, edited by Watts, F. N. and Dumbreck, G., 273–312. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M. L. 2000. Empathy and Moral Development: Implications for Caring and Justice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hume, D. 1978. “A Treatise of Human Nature.” edited by Selby-Bigge, L. A. and Nidditch, P. H.. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Kimball, R. H. 2004. “A Plea for Pity.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 37 (4): 301–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konstan, D. 2005. “Aristotle on the Tragic Emotions.” In Of Constant Sorrow: The Soul of Tragedy, edited by Pedrick, V. and Oberghelman, S., 13–25. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Konstan, D. 2006. The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks: Studies in Aristotle and Classical Literature. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kosman, L. A. 1980. “Being Properly Affected: Virtues and Feelings in Aristotle’s Ethics.” In Essays on Aristotle’s Ethics, edited by Rorty, A. O., 103–116. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kristjánsson, K. 2006. Justice and Desert-Based Emotions. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Kristjánsson, K. 2007. Aristotle, Emotions, and Education. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Kristjánsson, K. 2009. “Emotional Optimality and Moral Force.” In Emotions, Ethics and Authenticity, edited by Salmela, M. and Mayer, V., 215–233. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristjánsson, K. 2010a. The Self and Its Emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristjánsson, K. 2010b. “Emotion Education Without Ontological Commitment?” Studies in Philosophy and Education 29 (3): 259–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristjánsson, K. 2013. Virtues and Vices in Positive Psychology: A Philosophical Critique. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristjánsson, K. 2014. “There is Something About Aristotle: The Pros and Cons of Aristotelianism in Contemporary Moral Education.” Journal of Philosophy of Education 48 (1): 48–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. 1996. “Compassion: The Basic Social Emotion.” Social Philosophy and Policy 13 (1): 27–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nussbaum, M. C. 2001. Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rapp, C. 2013. “Aristotle on Moral Education As Emotional Training.” Accessed April 1. 2014. http://www.filosofia.dafist.unige.it/risorse/CON/rapp.pdf.Google Scholar
Roberts, R. C. 1989. “Aristotle on Virtues and Emotions.” Philosophical Studies 56 (3): 293–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, R. C. 2004. “The Blessings of Gratitude: A Conceptual Analysis.” In The Psychology of Gratitude, edited by Emmons, R. A. and McCullough, M. E., 58–78. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, R. C. 2013. Emotions in the Moral Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rousseau, J.-J. 1979. Emile, or, on Education. Translated by A. Bloom.New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Ryle, G. 2009. “Philosophical Arguments.” Collected Essays, 1929–1968, 203–221. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snow, N. 1991. “Compassion.” American Philosophical Quarterly 28 (3): 195–205.Google Scholar
Snow, N. 2000. “Empathy.” American Philosophical Quarterly 37 (1): 65–77.Google Scholar
Sreenivasan, G. 2008. “Character and Consistency: Still More Errors.” Mind 117 (467): 603–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, M. 2004. “Compassion and Pity: An Evaluation of Nussbaum’s Analysis and Defense.” Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 7 (5): 487–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weng, H. Y., Fox, A. S., Shackman, A. J., Stodola, D. E., Caldwell, J. Z. K., Olson, M. C., Rogers, G. M. and Davidson, R. J.. 2013. “Compassion Training Alters Altruism and Neural Responses to Suffering.” Psychological Science 24 (7): 1171–1180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wispé, L. 1986. “The Distinction Between Sympathy and Empathy: To Call Forth a Concept, a Word is Needed.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50 (2): 314–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar