The word "emotion" comes from roots meaning to move outward. Through ethics we move outward, beyond selfishness and narcissism to larger ideas of community and polis. Ethics will not leave us alone, and that is precisely the point. Ethics always draws us to others, creating an imaginal space where our mutual frailties can be attended. For Aristotle, who gave us the word "ethics," the human is first and foremost a political animal, a child of the earth like the other animals, yes, but possessing a natural endowment for compassion, altruism, and selfless conduct.

Benjamin Sells, The Soul of the Law