How Does Empathy Become Morally Energising for Agents? ——Michael Slote Emotionalist Ethics of Care Study

Abstract

In the face of the moral decline exacerbating problems such as “indifference” and “ignorance” in present times, this article takes into account the background of the times, starts from the perspective of stimulating the moral action of the agents, and takes the empathy of the contemporary ethicist  Michael Slote’s affective caring ethics as the core of the study, and further clarifies and elaborates the operation mechanism and its superiority and limitations of the “empathy-caring” emphasised by Slote in the moral life from the individual to group, by comparing it with rationalism. Through a comparative study with rationalism, the paper further clarifies and elaborates the operation mechanism of “empathy-caring” emphasised by Slote in the moral life from individual to group, as well as its superiority and limitations, especially, the Stole’s ethics has absorbed and developed the concept of yin and yang in Chinese thought, and provides a new way of thinking for explaining moral behaviours, solving moral dilemmas, and improving moral literacy.