| Sumario: | Ethical theorists articulate the requirements for moral action, but often neglect the emotional and psychological experiences that enable a person to meet moral standards. In this volume, Julinna Oxley analyses the psychological experience of empathy and shows that it makes unique epistemic contributions to our understanding of other people. Since empathy brings information to our attention in a personal way, it has the potential to enrich moral deliberation. Nevertheless, it is not intrinsically moral and does not always lead to moral action. Given its role in helping us understand others, empathy is relevant to Kantian ethics and contractual ethics, not just to ethical theories that emphasize care and altruism. Citing empirical evidence, Oxley shows that the cultivation of empathy must begin early in life in order for people to be inclined to feel empathy for others in a way that informs their moral decisions.
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