Addressing Agape in Relation to Humanity

Abstract

The paper explores the Christian notion of agape. The main thesis examines how love for one's neighbour reflects one's comprehension of humanity and highlights the limits of our understanding of humanity. Within the Christian tradition, agape is portrayed as a neighbourly love that transcends the social mores or rules of conduct within a given society. In this paper, agape is situated in the cognitive theory of emotions and is conceived as universal human love characterized by the preparedness to acknowledge the common shared humanity of fellow human beings and the manifestation of that acknowledgement. The limits of our understanding of humanity will be illustrated through examples of epistemic injustice that demonstrate the failure to recognize someone else's humanity.