L'età della benevolenza. Compassione e simpatia nel lungo Settecento britannico

My aim is to draw out the models of compassion and sympathy that flourished in England and Scotland in the 18th century. I argue that the proliferation of these models is due to the attempt to respond to the crisis of social bonds that emerges from the works of Hobbes, whose anthropological and political theory represents the most significant brea- king point in medieval cosmology. The authors I have considered are in close dialogue with each other and their works can only be fully understood if they are put in relation to each other. I have identified five models of compassion and sympathy: 1) the self-referential mo- del; 2) the organic or harmonic model; 3) the mechanical model; 4) the ethical-anthropolo- gical model; 5) the ethical-psychological model.