Basın Fotoğrafında Merhametin İyiliği ve Kötülüğü Üzerine

History of photography is almost completely identified with images of pain and destruction. Therefore theoretical dimension of photography and especially documentary photography takes shape around ethical and aesthetical discussions of images of destruction, pain and atrocity. Especially humanist approach in photography aims to protect people in pain and evoke conscience through these images Audiences are expected to take action by way of empathy established through photos that evoke their consciences. However recently, it has been understood that compassion photography can also create negative impacts contrary to its aim. We will expand the discussion on photography by rejecting the pres up position of compassion being a good thing in the beginning. If we suppose that compassion is stil seen as a fundamental virtue in liberal democracies, it could be considered as normal for photography to take shape in line with this as well. İt is argued that photography which creates anxiety, which shocks and evokes our feeling of compassion has different aspects of impact at personal and social levels on audiences as well as the victims. İt is suggested that people who look at these photos become weaker and are depoliticized by facing their lack of political freedom Photos taken with the emphasis of compassion may as well render the audience passive instead of rendering them active. Therefore, in order to look at the subject from a wider perspective, it will be helpful to deal with the notion of compassion which is accepted as a positive feeling and a virtue before ethical and aesthetical discussions of photography. In the first part of this study we will discuss how Benedictus de Spinoza, a philosopher who emphasized the importance of feelings, considers feelings of compassion and sorrow in the context of his doctrine of affects; in these condpart we will look into Nietzsche’s notion of pity; in the third part we will analyze the relation between photography and compassion; and in the last part we will try and determine whether compassion photography achieves its aim or not