[MMMMMM]

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Cmon guys. Why do you do this stuff to me? Obviously the word "disgust" was used simply as a placeholder for any emotion that evolved, had survival benefits, and was apt to reduce murders. Pain, pity, empathy, even love.

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OK, the word was a placeholder.

With the above statement, though, you define the origins of, and limit the listed emotions. I'm not convinced that that is ALL there is to those emotions. Nor am I fully convinced that survival benefits/evolution are the ONLY reason we have those emotions in the first place. And even if survival benefits/evolution are the only reason for the initial origins of those emotions, it does not follow that developed humans must have those emotions only in such limited original capacity--put another way, the capacity for empathy can grow in some humans, and develop into more than it was originally.

Also, empathy can be more than merely an emotion--it can also be an intellectual awareness that others have feelings just like you do. That being the case it would seem best to not frivolously cause pain or harm to others--even if there would be no repercussions to one's self.

In some (relatively few) humans this capacity for empathy grows to such an extent that the entire world seems an extension of one's self, or in the phrasing of a Zen practitioner, "...from that time on, whenever I looked at something, it seemed as if I were looking at a reflection of my own face." Ths may tie in with a feeling or the awareness of inseparability from the world and the universe, and that the notion of individuality is but a brief and limited perspective. And considering that we in fact do "come from" the universe, and eventually "return to" the universe, this very well might be a valid perspective supported by reality.

The human infant's worldview, once it starts to develop, is entirely "I"-centered. As most humans mature, they increasingly gain an appreciation that the world does not revolve around themselves, and that others' feelings matter too. This may not entirely be due to survival/evolutionary reasons; it may also be that humans develop an awareness in that direction because it actually reflects a truth of existence and the universe. Nobody exists externally from the universe, so an awareness of this greater and encompassing set (as in set theory) may actually support empathy as being part of an accurate reflection of reality.

I'm not taking a firm stance that these things are so; rather, I'm leery of limiting things too much. So I'm not too keen on hastily and narrowly defining the origins or current form or purposes of emotions such as empathy.