他者への支援を動機づける同情と憐れみ

―サーベイ実験による道徳的直観の検証―

抄録

This paper explores the nature of human moral intuition which motivates us to assist others in hardship. Building upon the idea originally developed by Hannah Arendt, we distinguish “compassion” and “pity” as different mental sources, arguing that each entails a distinct pattern through which the institution is translated into or attitudes and behavior. More concretely, we hypothesize that two variables are particularly relevant in determining these patterns: the degree of familiarity with the environment in which the hardship is taking place, and the number of identifiable people who face the hardship. Survey experiments we conducted in August and December 2012 support this hypothesis, showing that the level of willingness to assist others is affected most significantly by the location of the hardship. The findings also suggest that the sentiment of pity motivates our willingness in the context of foreign countries, while the feeling of compassion dominates our intuition and ironically constrains our willingness in the case of the hardship taking place in our own country. The paper discusses the normative implications drawn from these empirical findings and concludes that the two areas of political science, normative theory and positive analysis, must be more integrated in future research.