Empathy and emotion: morality explored in bullying

Abstract

In this thesis morality is discussed in a casestudy of psychological research on bullying among adolescents. The concept of empathy is examined, arguing from a metaethical point of view that we need to allow for emotions, cognition and finally empathy as an epistemological tool, and thus to include rationality, to come to an account of morality. With this a concept of empathy develops that moves beyond the way it is discussed in sociobiology and developmental psychology, but instead, the way we can approach it through ethical sentimentalism. In addition, adolescents as moral agents are discussed in a view of mutual responsibility.