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You can tell much about a culture from the virtues it holds most dear. The defining virtue of the contemporary West is compassion, and that is a problem.
Of course, I’m not arguing that being moved to pity by someone’s suffering is inherently wrong. What I am arguing is that our modern understanding of compassion, untethered from its original moral foundation, has stunted our ability to properly practice the virtue of mercy.
Beatrice Scudeler writes on literature, religion, the arts, and motherhood. She lives in Oxford, England with her husband and children.
