 Compassion: A Fragile Suffer-With
The human condition is mainly defined by the condition of interaction. Alone on his desert island, Robinson is dying. But the contemporary organization of the world, mainly based on the individualization of behavior combined with the desire of success and the demands of rentability (profitability) and efficiency, has largely perverted this condition, a perversion that has found its way into the most inhuman acts on the planet, such as crimes against humanity or genocide. And if natural and human disasters (such as wars somehow enjoin us to compassion, it is mainly elective and ephemeral, so much so that emotion can’t dictate the moral act. Therefore, we propose to shift the focus to responsibility-for-others, which, because we belong to the same humanity, makes us co-responsible for every evil committed and every injustice done in the world, and which, unlike compassion, is addressed to every human being, wherever he or she comes from and whoever he or she may be, a responsibility that obliges us, a responsibility that binds us together.