ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the importance of empathy for prosocial behavior, moral development, or altruism. Hoffman illustrates with a number of anecdotal observations of children from the age of two actually taking on the victim's role and reflecting on the victims needs in the current context, thus displaying a cognitive understanding of selfother distinction. When the role of empathy in prosocial behavior is discussed, evidence from developmental psychology, primatology, and neuroscience seem to coincide: altruism is rooted in nature. A veneer theory is hardly warranted. There is an evolutionary biological foundation for human morality, with emotional capacity providing a vital link. The human capacity for moral emotions is both different and similar to that of other advanced animals and develops throughout life through cultural learning and social interaction. Employing tools from some of the cognitive sciences, instructions from old Israelite legal collections can be shown to reflect some of the deep roots of human morality.
