同理心、道德與道德教育－M. Slote道德情感主義之哲學探究

(Abstract) A Philosophical Study of Michael Slote’s Moral Sentimentalism：Empathy, Morality and Moral Education What is the aim of moral education？ It is roughly acceptable to say that moral education is aimed at enabling learners to know the good, to love the good and to put the good into practice. Nevertheless, if morality is regarded as either the matter of reason or the matter of emotion, the aforementioned aim of moral education, namely, ‘to know the good, to love the good and to carry out the good’, will be understood differently. Moreover, it is gradually recognized that emotions play a significant role in morality, such as helping moral agents register some morally salient features in given situations, offering moral agents with moral motives for moral actions, etc. And empathy as an emotional mechanism allows moral agents to feel what others feel and even to help others in need. Therefore, empathy is chosen as the topic of this study. On the other hand, Michael Slote as a contemporary ethicist put forward a theory pf moral sentimentalism in which the significance of empathy in morality is extremely emphasized. For instance, Slote claims that it is via empathy that people produce the feeling of moral approval or disapproval for an agent. Additionally, Slote also suggests that it is upon the moral approval or disapproval derived from empathy that people grasp the meanings of moral judgments and moral utterances, including the occurrence of motives required by moral agents to act morally. Based on the two above-mentioned considerations, this study is intended both for philosophically examining Slote’s moral sentimentalism, especially with reference to the relation of empathy and morality, and for expounding the implications of the aforementioned study for moral education. Therefore, mainly by means of text hermeneutics and conceptual analysis, this study is to be undertaken to achieve the following goals： 1. to deeply delve into the role of empathy in Slote’s moral sentimentalism； 2. to establish the relationship between empathy and morality； 3. to expound the significant implications of Slote’s insights concerning empathy in his moral sentimentalism for moral education.