Abstract
This chapter provides the theoretical and historical foundation for examining the structures of compassion. It analyzes theories of compassion developed by Aristotle, Nussbaum, and Whitebrook that support approaching emotions as historically and culturally contingent constructions. Based on models developed by these scholars, compassion is defined here as the affective participation in another’s experience, registered through modifications in affect or perception or through acts to improve the condition of others, which may be exhibited through an encouraging word, a supporting action, or a caring gesture recognizing that other individuals are experiencing difficulty.
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- 1.
Jeremiah P. Conway, in “Compassion and Moral Condemnation: An Analysis of the Reader,” admits that compassion can also be triggered when the sufferer is responsible for his anguish. Examining the story of Hanna, who is responsible for Nazi crimes, he writes, “The story acknowledges Hanna’s moral guilt and finds room for compassion nonetheless. It intimates that moral condemnation is possible without distancing criminals from us so greatly that we fail to recognize ourselves in their midst” (298).
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The intricacy of compassion is also noted in Lawrence Blum’s “Compassion,” in which he defines this feeling as “a complex emotional attitude toward another, characteristically involving imaginative dwelling on the condition of the other person” (509).
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The importance of suffering is confirmed also in the Buddhist tradition, which considers it an essential element for the activation of compassion. Charles Hallisey, in Evil and Suffering, suggests that “a certain amount of suffering is necessary to make us aware that our fantasies are not actually the way we and the world are. In addition, witnessing the suffering of others can help to generate valuable virtues of empathy, pity, and compassion in us. Awareness and compassion are catalyst and pinnacles of the Buddhist religious life” (54).
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Milli Konewko, S. (2016). The Nature of Compassion. In: Neorealism and the "New" Italy. Italian and Italian American Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52416-4_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52416-4_6
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
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