Frans de Waal’s view that empathy is at the basis of morality directly seems to build on Darwin, who considered sympathy as the crucial instinct. Yet when we look closer, their understanding of the central social instinct differs considerably. De Waal sees our deeply ingrained tendency to sympathize (or rather: empathize) with others as the good side of our morally dualistic nature. For Darwin, sympathizing was not the whole story of the “workings of sympathy”; the (selfish) need to receive sympathy played just as central a role in the complex roads from sympathy to morality. Darwin’s understanding of sympathy stems from Adam Smith, who argued that the presence of morally impure motives should not be a reason for cynicism about morality. I suggest that De Waal’s approach could benefit from a more thorough alignment with the analysis of the workings of sympathy in the work of Darwin and Adam Smith.
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机译：弗兰斯·德瓦尔（Frans de Waal）的同情直接建立在道德基础上的观点似乎建立在达尔文之上，达尔文认为同情是至关重要的本能。然而，当我们仔细观察时，他们对中心社会本能的理解却大不相同。德瓦尔将我们深深根深蒂固的同情他人的倾向是我们道德二元性的好方面。对达尔文来说，同情并不是“同情的全部”故事。 （自私的）接受同情的需要，在从同情到道德的复杂道路中发挥着核心作用。达尔文对同情的理解源于亚当·斯密（Adam Smith），他认为，道德上不纯洁的动机不应成为对道德持怀疑态度的理由。我建议戴瓦尔（De Waal）的方法可以从与达尔文（Darwin）和亚当·史密斯（Adam Smith）的同情工作分析更为全面的结合中受益。
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