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Compassion as an antidote to cruelty

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2006

Michael Allen Fox
Michael Allen Fox*
Affiliation:
School of Social Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia
*
mfox3@une.edu.au
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Abstract:

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The impulse toward violence and cruelty is endemic to the human species. But so, likewise, is the impulse toward compassionate behavior. Victor Nell acknowledges this, but he does not explore the matter any further. I supplement his account by discussing how compassion, specifically in the moral education of children, can help remedy the problem of violence and cruelty in society.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , June 2006, pp. 229 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

References

Notes

1. Iowe this victims-of-violence point to Fiona Utley.

2. As I trust will become evident, compassion is to be distinguished from, and is much more profound than, the altruism that some theorists explain in terms of evolutionary reproductive strategies, simple reciprocity, prisoner's dilemma gamesmanship, and so forth.