Compassion as the Highest Ethic

Ethics are governing principles that help guide people or groups when making moral decisions, judgments, or when engaging in actions. We draw upon our ethical principles when attempting to address some of the most complicated decisions in our lives, for example in health care when dealing with difficult matters such as assisted suicide or with terminally ill patients. Indeed, many modern professions (e.g., doctors, psychologists) have ethical codes to ensure that members engage in behaviors, which are seen as being the human ideal that recognizes the integrity, dignity, and the justice of the individuals and the situation. In this chapter, we posit that compassion might be the foundation principal necessary in making ethically wise decisions. To support this premise, we will first define compassion, and how it can be understood in terms of evolutionary function, physiological processes, and brain functioning. We will then examine the benefits of compassion and how this links with ethics. Finally, we will discuss specific interventions that aim to cultivate compassion and how these might offer hope for individuals and society in making ethically wise decisions