ABSTRACT
Compassion has oftentimes been viewed solely as an emotion, with no explicit need for ‘compassionate’ individuals to help those who are suffering (Cassell 2002). In contrast, recent scholarly work has reframed the definition of compassion, arguing that it must include some form of action (Whitebrook 2002 and Chapter 1 of this volume; Ben-Ze’Ev 2000). Following from these scholars, it seems that compassion arguably involves having both a sense of being moved by the suffering of another, and a desire to act to alleviate that person’s suffering, presumably by helping in some way. Thus, if compassion is to be extended across national, ethnic, religious and cultural boundaries, members of any one group (national, ethnic, religious or otherwise) must be willing to act to help members of other groups. In short, they must engage in intergroup, compassionate helping. In this chapter, the roles of two emotions – guilt and anger – in motivating such intergroup compassionate helping are examined.
