Realizing the Emotional Crossing from “Selfishness” to “Goodness”: Realistic Reflections on Hume’S Theory of Sympathy

Abstract

The essence of “sympathy” in Hume’s perspective is an emotional transmission mechanism. The exertion of its utility is affected by the relations of resemblance, contiguity and causation. In depth, this emotional transmission mechanism is composed of four links: “self-love” as the origin, “standing by” as the position, “self-reflection” as the impetus, and “goodness” as the emotional direction. Smooth and successful transmission of these four links will help to achieve the emotional crossing from “selfishness” to “goodness”. Under the enlightenment of Hume’s theory, a man needs to look on independently and objectively on the basis of natural conscience, in order to be a qualified sympathizer. At the social level, it is required to build a sympathy environment with impartiality and objectivity, which needs to strengthen sympathy education and to improve the moral reward and punishment mechanism, so as to provide sufficient internal and external conditions for the crossing from “selfishness” to “goodness”.