Empathy in PhD students in bioethics: a qualitative phenomenological study
Abstract
Empathy is one of the most relevant themes in contemporary discussions about ethics and bioethics.
This feeling is cultivated by biographical experiences that help us to understand the vulnerability and
mortality that defines us as human beings. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted, with a
phenomenological focus, to understand the experiences and meanings of empathy and its relationship with
bioethics from the perspective of a group of PhD students in bioethics. The results were grouped into three
thematic categories: pity; experiences about empathy; and empathy and bioethics. Empathy is described
as a virtue in Aristotelian terms. It concludes that empathy is fundamental to bioethics and is not just an
emotional response or a guiding principle, but an action to make the world a fairer and better place to live.
