The article at the end of this post is a rough draft – very rough – of material eventually worked into my book of the same title, Empathy in the Context of Philosophy (Palgrave 2010). It is useful in that it contains chatty, informal discussions that had to be cut [edited] out as not being adequately serious and significant as befits a philosophical monograph (and also due to limitations of word count). In Heidegger’s Being and Time the alternative of inauthentically being with other people is contrasted with authentically being alone in the face of death, one’s own individualizing and inevitable demise. The third choice of authentically being with other human beings is neglected, pushed down into a few parenthetical remarks that dismiss empathy [Einfühlung]. The possibility of authentic human being with others is delimited but, for the most part, not developed. This chapter gathers together those remarks and amplifies them with an analysis of human being with other human beings by applying the basic Heideggerian distinctions of affectedness, understanding, interpretation, assertion, and speech to an interpretation and implementation of empathy. Insight from the later Heidegger is integrated. An analysis of empathy is produced in the spirit of Heidegger’s distinctions. This results in clearing the way for an implementation of empathy as the foundation of human interrelatedness and the implementation of the missing chapter from Being and Time on Heidegger’s “Special Hermeneutic of Empathy.” For further details, distinctions, and discussion see attached – EmpathyHermeneuticsHeidegger
Categories: Einfühlung, Empathy, Hermeneutics, Philosophy, Self
Empathy Lessons 