Table of Contents
List of Figures x
Series Editor's Preface xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xviii
Introduction 1
Three key distinctions defined 1
Historical limits constraining the world 'empathy' 4
The trajectory of a special hermeneutic of empathy 7
From the hermeneutic of empathy to its intentionality 8
The neurology of empathy 12
Empathy and ethics 14
1 A Heideggerian Interpretation of Empathy 16
Authentic being with others is neglected in Being and Time 16
Empathy - the ontological bridge between selves? 17
The historical matrix by which 'empathy' was constrained 18
'Empathy' - the name of a problem 20
A feeling that something is missing 21
The possibility of authentic human interrelations 22
A detour through ontology 22
Distinctions for a design for being human 24
Set up 25
Honing in on the neglected interpretation 27
2 Delivering Heidegger's Hermeneutic of Empathy 30
Human beings are designed to be affected by each other's feelings 30
Navigating the 'inner-outer' divide: mineness and displaced perception 32
The example of vicarious feeling 35
The other shows up in the paradigm of respect 36
A design for empathic understanding: the other as possibility 39
Ontic and ontological possibilities of empathy 41
A design for empathy as interpretation implemented in the hermeneutic circle 43
The fore structure of interpretation applied to empathy 43
The other as structure of interpretation applied to empathy 44
A design for different perspectives: taking a walk in the other's shoes 46
Empathic interpretation as perspective taking: social referencing 47
The rich silence of empathic listening by design 50
The paradox of empathic speech - quiescing the idle chatter 52
The authentic, committed listening of empathy 54
3 Empathy between Death and the Other 56
Empathy: the third alternative to the inauthentic crowd and authentic aloneness 56
Empathy as becoming the conscience of the other 57
Between the other and death: humanization and individualization 58
Empathy as foundational being with 61
Empathy as taking a stand for the other 63
Empathy and trauma 65
Empathy and altruism 69
Empathy can be used for good or harm 70
Empathy: brought to language as narrative 77
Example of the act of empathic receptivity between Thomas and Hanno Buddenbrooks 77
The hermeneutic of empathy: a bridge over troubled waters 82
4 The Roundtrip from Hermeneutics to Intentionality 84
Empathy and intentionality 84
A single statement about the positive structure of consciousness 85
Language as a method of access to intentionality 86
'Mineness' and navigating the inner-outer distinction (continued) 86
Intentional acts of empathy target expressions of life 87
Constitutive acts of empathy 90
Situating empathy in Searle's account of intentionality: preliminary distinctions 92
Searle's account of intentionality: access through speech acts 96
The limits of access to empathy through language 108
5 Empathy from Periphery to Foundation 112
Husserl's account of empathic intentionality: pre-predicative synthesis 112
Husserl's noema not a Fregian sense (Sinn) 115
The example of sight restored after a lifetime of blindness: access through breakdown 116
Radicalization of the other in Husserl's Fifth Cartesian Meditation 120
The explosion of inter-subjectivity in the Fifth Cartesian Meditation 123
Empathic intentionality aims at communalization 126
Example of the constitutive act of empathy in the human face 127
The case of acquired face blindness (prosopagnosia) 128
6 Empathy as Vicarious Introspection in Psychoanalysis 132
Vicarious introspection and the constitution of a psychoanalytic fact 132
Without empathy, the inner life of man is unthinkable 136
Example of the act of empathic receptivity in psychoanalysis 143
Example of the act of empathic understanding in psychoanalysis (continued) 148
Empathy, the self and selfobject 150
Conclusion: empathy and translation 155
Notes 158
Bibliography 166
Index 176
