I posted this in a Google+ community as a response to the claim that empathy is a sufficient ground and driver of morality. Some of this was influenced by Dr. Feser so it might sound familiar. I would appreciate your feedback.

Empathy is a poor ground for morals because it can encourage poor behavior intended to mitigate suffering. Let’s take a look at some definitions first. Google defines empathy as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another; Merriam-Webster defines it as the feeling that you share another person’s experiences and emotions; and Psychology Today describes empathy as the experience of understanding another person’s condition from their perspecitive. 

Consider an addict. Were I to truly empathize with him (we’ll say our addict is male for the sake of brevity) then I would have to embrace his point of view that he needs his fix now and that he does not want to go through withdrawal. It is not empathetic to hold to the higher road because the higher road has no meaning. Even worse, it’s not empathetic. I’m not seeing things from his point of view because all he wants is to get high and avoid withdrawal. That’s all. 

Holding our addict friend to the higher path of getting and staying clean has more problems than just being empathetic. In a secular world, being clean has no intrinsic value, for as Dawkins says, there is no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference. Humans have no higher purpose in life, except  as Dawkins and Hitchens were wont to say, what they personally (subjectively?) find in it. So if we’re using empathy as the sole ground and driver of morality, considering that the universe is devoid of good and purpose, then all that matters to our addict friend is the fix. This is meaning that he assigns to his life and it would be height of arrogance to assume that our meaning is superior to his.

Hi All. I'm a new user. I found out about this place through an internet friend and Dr. Feser's blog. I look forward to some good discussion. 

Some background:
I'm 32, a die-hard yet struggling Catholic (aren't we all?). Married with four kids (so far), and employed in the military and law enforcement world. I like to spend what little spare time I have reading philosophy, listening to heavy metal, playing with esoteric technology, working out, and cheering for Detroit sports. 

I'm really glad I found this place. I'm excited to talk with all of you!