This essay examines the moral attitudes that underlie commitments to
humanitarian intervention. Specifically, the essay seeks to explain how respect
and empathy together create the ethical imperative for humanitarian
intervention. Traditionally excluded from the formal discourse on humanitarian
intervention, empathy is presented as an integral component of making the
"ought" of humanitarian intervention psychologically feasible.
The essay
presents a slightly revised definition of empathy, in which empathy is the
cognitive ability to place oneself in the world of another, imagining all of the
realities, feelings, and circumstances of that person in the context of their
world. This differs from the notion that feelings of empathy are limited to
those with whom one shares a close relationship. The essay contends that the
ability to identify with others is necessary in order to mobilize the feelings
of respect for others into acts of humanitarian intervention.
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