Monika Betzler What Is the Value of Empathy and How Does it Relate to Morality?
Monika Betzler is Chair of Practical Philosophy and Ethics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. She was previously Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Other former affiliations include the University of Göttingen, Bielefeld University, and Harvard University. She has also worked for the Commission of the European Union. Her special fields of interest are moral philosophy, moral psychology, and theories of practical reason and normativity. She is elected Member of the Swiss National Committee for Bioethics and on several editorial boards, for instance of the Journal for Social Ontology.
Area of Research
Practical Philosophy
since 2015
Chair in Practical Philosophy and Ethics
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and the Study of Religion
2006-2015
Full Professor of Philosophy
University of Bern (Universität Bern)
2005-2006
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
2004-2005
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Political Theory
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
2003
Visiting Professor of Philosophy
University of Bern (Universität Bern)
1997-2002
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)
1998
Visiting Lecturer
University of Bielefeld (Universität Bielefeld)
1995
Teaching Fellow
Harvard University
Kennedy School of Government
1993-1994
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)
1992-1993
Trainee and Expert
European Commission
Forward Studies Unit
2005
Habilitation in Philosophy
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
1996
Master of Public Administration
Harvard University
Kennedy School of Government
1992
PhD in Philosophy
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
1988
Magister Artium in Philosophy
Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
- Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Philosophie
- Erkenntnis
- Ethical Theory and Moral Practice
- Ethical Perspectives
- Ethics
- Facta Philosophica
- Grazer Philosophische Studien
- Inquiry
- Kantian Review
- Philosophers' Imprint
- Philosophical Explorations
- Philosophical Quarterly
- Rationality
- Markets and Morals
- Theoria
- Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung
- Zeitschrift für praktische Philosophie
- American Philosophical Association
- British Society for Ethical Theory
- German Philosophical Association
- German Society for Analytic Philosophy
- European Society for Analytic Philosophy
To have empathy is often defined as the capacity to imagine or feel like other people feel. In the philosophical tradition morality and empathy have often been seen as intertwined or as one being the condition of the other. More recently, this close link has been questioned. Practical philosopher MONIKA BETZLER investigates how the human capacity to empathize with others is related to the concept of morality. In this video, she focuses this question on defining the value of empathy and what this value contributes to morality. For this, she observed normative practices analyzing how people behave and developed a normative concept of empathy. She found concrete evaluative features that allow the establishment of extrinsic and intrinsic values of empathy.
LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10498
