ABSTRACT
A contrast is often drawn in moral philosophy between empathy-based and reason-based approaches. This chapter aims to reconcile both positions by showing with the help of moral psychology that the empathic point of view has a moral core that provides a transition to the moral point of view. Central to this line of argument is that empathy is a form of seeing others as ends in themselves. To substantiate this claim, a definition of empathy is given and supported by functional and neuroanatomical evidence. The pathway that leads from the empathic to the moral point of view is reconstructed in detail. In the end, it turns out that reason and empathy can and should complement each other as sources of moral behaviour.
