'''Compassion''' is a [[human]] [[emotion]] prompted by the [[pain]] of others. More vigorous than [[empathy]], the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social [[context]] as altruism. In ethical terms, the various expressions down the ages of the [[Golden Rule]] embody by implication the principle of compassion: Do to others what you would have them do to you. [1] Cited as a great [[virtue]] in numerous philosophies, compassion is considered in all the major religious [[tradition]]s as among the greatest of [[virtue]]s. | '''Compassion''' is a [[human]] [[emotion]] prompted by the [[pain]] of others. More vigorous than [[empathy]], the feeling commonly gives rise to an active desire to alleviate another's suffering. It is often, though not inevitably, the key component in what manifests in the social [[context]] as altruism. In ethical terms, the various expressions down the ages of the [[Golden Rule]] embody by implication the principle of compassion: Do to others what you would have them do to you. [1] Cited as a great [[virtue]] in numerous philosophies, compassion is considered in all the major religious [[tradition]]s as among the greatest of [[virtue]]s. |