Sympathy is considered a virtue (positive moral quality). By contrast, cruelty is considered what kind of moral quality?

Introduction / Context:
This is a moral classification analogy. Sympathy is widely regarded as a virtue (positive trait). The morally opposite classification for cruelty is a vice (negative trait). We must keep the “trait → moral class” relation while switching polarity.

Given Data / Assumptions:
Philosophical/ethical vocabulary is used in the everyday sense of good traits (virtues) and bad traits (vices).

Concept / Approach:
Preserve category mapping. “Kindness/compassion” are specific virtues, not a class label; “emotion” is a psychological category; “animosity” is an attitude, not the moral class itself. “Vice” is the precise negative class counterpart to “virtue”.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:
Ethics texts and dictionaries align cruelty with vice.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
They are not the contrasting class label required by the analogy.

Common Pitfalls:
Picking a synonym like “animosity” instead of the category “vice”.

Final Answer:
Vice