Abstract
This paper deals with phenomenological distinctions concerning empathy with real persons and empathy with fictional characters. We will introduce both contemporary accounts of our perception of others and Edith Stein’s account of empathy. These theories will turn out to be fruitful in defending our main thesis, i.e. that the differences between empathy with real people and empathy with fictional characters are not structural but just qualitative. We will argue that in both cases empathy is a direct act of perceiving others and their lived experience. However, stemming from Stein’s work, we will underline that empathy with real persons is in principio more vivid and intense than empathy with fictional characters. In order to identify similarities and differences between empathy de vivo and empathy in fiction, we will focus on the following issues: the quality of perception; the motivational context and the “life-world context”; the ontological status of persons vs. characters.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The theories we will consider under the name of Direct Perception Account present some differences from one another and do not completely overlap in their theoretical stances. However, as we will see, because of the aspects they have in common and the ways they all differ from TT and ST, the proposed common label appears appropriate.
Concerning our use of “experience”, it is needed to make some terminological and conceptual clarifications. In the contemporary debate on social cognition, the expression “mental states” is more common than the one of “experiences”. However, since the phenomenological theory of intentionality differentiates between “acts” and “states” because they are marked by different levels of positionality, we will prefer to use the more comprehensive and apt term “experiences” for both acts and states, and the whole class of mental phenomena. On the issue of the different positionality of intentional acts and states, which we cannot deal with here, see Husserl (1901: V LI), De Monticelli (forthcoming), De Vecchi (forthcoming).
To be sure, Gallagher and other defenders of DP do not exclude that other processes, such as theoretical inference or simulation, may be used in our practices of understanding others. Rather, they just maintain that they are neither the ordinary nor the primary methods we employ. On this point, see Gallagher and Zahavi (2008, Ch. 9 How we know others), Gallagher (2008), Zahavi (2010).
It is worth noticing that the psychological theory of Gestalt had already highlighted that in perception we do see structured wholes and not just their juxtaposed parts – as also Husserl underlined and applied in his theory of Parts and Wholes (Husserl 1890, Ch. XI § 11 The Figural Moments, pp. 215–222, 1901, III LI). For a re-evaluation of Gestalt’s contribution in phenomenology and philosophy of perception, see Smith and Mulligan (1982), De Monticelli (2018).
For a similar argument, see Zahavi (2010).
See Zahavi’s skeptical position on the actual possibility of empathy with fictional characters in Zahavi (2014: 151–152).
By the expression “essence and forms of acts of empathy”, we are of course paraphrasing the title of Scheler’s book Wesen und Formen der Sympathie (1913/23), translated in English as The Nature of Sympathy (1973). Moreover, Stein herself titles the second section of her book on empathy The essence of acts of empathy [Das Wesen der Einfühlungsakte].
Eidetics of empathy is an application to the phenomenon of empathy of Edmund Husserl’s eidetics. It is worth noticing that Stein provides eidetic accounts also of other phenomena of the social reality, such as the state and law-making acts (Stein 1925); on this point see De Vecchi (2015) and De Vecchi (2017). On the husserlian concept of “eidetics” and the topic of constraints on possible co-variations of parts that define any whole as such, see Husserl (1901, III LI; 1913), and De Monticelli (2013).
On the issue of qualitative ontology and, more specifically, in the social field, see De Vecchi (2016).
According to phenomenology, persons are entities characterized by a layered structure, that is by a psychophysical layer marked by causal connections (such as in neurobiological functions, sensations, moods) and the layer of personhood marked by motivational connections (e.g. such as in volitional acts, affective acts, position-takings).
On this point, see Stein’s arguments against both analogy and imitation theories of empathy (Stein 1917: 32–42). Stein mainly goes back here to the arguments presented by Scheler (1913/23: 43–66) on these issues. For a contemporary review and discussion of these topics and their connections to contemporary debate on intersubjective understanding, see Gallagher and Zahavi (2008, Ch. 9 How we know others,) Krueger (2012), Overgaard 2012. See also supra § 2.
This point is grounded on the phenomenological topic concerning the distinction between «intuitive content» of acts of experiencing (the given datum), on the one hand, and conceptual-propositional content of signitive acts. The distinction goes back in primis to Husserl’s Logical Investigations (Husserl 1901). Stein deals with the difference between «perceiving the other» and «knowing about the other» in Stein (1917, § 4. Der Streit zwischen Vorstellungs- und Aktualitätansicht, pp. 30–33; En. Tr. 1964: 18–20).
In saying that in the second and highest degree of empathy achievement we fully perceive the experience of the other, we do not claim, of course, that we have an exhaustive and complete experience of him/her. Indeed, the empathized subject, as perceptual object, always has a transcendence, an excess of being, with respect to what we can experience of him/her.
See Husserl (1936).
On this point, see De Monticelli (2008).
Stein tackles the issue of dissimulation and empathy in Stein (1917, pp. 68–72).
References
Baron-Cohen S (1995) Mindblindness. An essay on autism and theory of mind. MIT Press, Cambridge
De Monticelli R (2008) Subjectivity and essential individuality: a dialogue with Peter Van Inwagen and Lynne Baker. Phenomenol Cogn Sci 7:225–242
De Monticelli R (2013) Requiredness: an argument for value-realism. Phenomenol Mind 5:84–97
De Monticelli R (2018) The paradox of axiology. A phenomenological approach to value theory. Phenomenol Mind 15:108–120
De Monticelli R (forthcoming) The phenomenology of rational agency. In: Erhard C, Keiling T (eds) Routledge handbook of phenomenology of agency. Routledge, London
De Vecchi F (2014) Three types of heterotropic intentionality. A taxonomy in social ontology. In: Konzelman Ziv A, Schmid HB (eds) Institutions, emotions and group agents. Contribution to social ontology. Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, pp 117–137, Studies in the Philosophy of Sociality 2
De Vecchi F (2015) Edith Stein’s social ontology of the state, the law and social acts. An eidetic approach. Studia Phaenomenologica XV:303–330
De Vecchi F (2016) The existential quality issue in social ontology: eidetics and modifications of essential connections. HumanaMente J Philos Stud 31:187–204
De Vecchi F (2017) Eidetics of law-making acts: parts, wholes and degrees of existence. Phenomenol Mind XIII:86–95
De Vecchi F (forthcoming) The intentionality and positionality of spontaneous acts—Adolf Reinach’s account of agency. In: Erhard C, Keiling T (eds) Routledge handbook of phenomenology of agency. Routledge, London
Gallagher S (2005) How the body shapes the mind. Clarendon Press, Oxford-New York
Gallagher S (2008) Direct perception in the intersubjective context. Conscious Cogn 17(2):535–543
Gallagher S (2012) Empathy, simulation and narrative. Sci Context 25(3):301–327
Gallagher S, Zahavi D (2008) The phenomenological mind: an introduction to philosophy of mind and cognitive science. Routledge, London-New York
Gallese V (2001) The ‘shared manifold’ hypothesis: from mirror neurons to empathy. J Conscious Stud 8:33–50
Goldman A (2006) Simulating minds: the philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience of mindreading. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Gopnik A, Wellman HM (1992) Why the child’s theory of mind really is a theory. Mind Lang 7(1–2):145–171
Gordon RM (2005) Intentional agents like myself. In: Hurley S, Chater N (eds) Perspectives on imitation I. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 95–106
Husserl E (1890) Philosophie der Arithmetik in Philosophie der Arithmetik. Mit ergänzenden Texten. In: Lothar E (ed) Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1970. English Translation: Philosophy of arithmetic. Psychological and logical investigations with supplementary texts from 1887 to 1901. Trans. W Dallas, Springer, Dordrecht 2003
Husserl E (1901) Logische Untersuchungen. Husserliana XVIII, XIX, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1975/1984. English translation: Logical Investigations I–II. Trans. J. N. Findlay. Routledge, London 2001
Husserl E (1905–1920) Zur Phänomenologie der Intersubjektivität I, Husserliana XIII, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague 1973
Husserl E (1913) Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie. Erstes Buch: Allgemeine Einführung in die reine Phänomenologie. Husserliana III/1–2. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1950. English translation: Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy. First Book. General Introduction to a Pure Phenomenology. Trans. F. Kersten. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1982
Husserl E (1921–1928). Zur Phänomenologie der Intersubjektivität II, Husserliana XIV, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1973
Husserl E (1936) Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften und die transzendentale Phänomenologie. Eine Einleitung in die phänomenologische Philosophie. Husserliana VI, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands 1976. English Translation: The crisis of European sciences and transcendental philosophy. An introduction to phenomenology. Trans. D. Carr, Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1954
Krueger J (2012) Seeing mind in action. Phenomenol Cogn Sci 11(2):149–173
Krueger J, Overgaard S (2012) Seeing subjectivity: defending a perceptual account of other minds. ProtoSociol Conscious Subj 47:239–262
Leslie AM (1987) Children’s understanding of the mental world. In: Gregory RL (ed) The Oxford companion to the mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 139–142
Overgaard S (2012) Other people. In: Zahavi D (ed) The Oxford handbook of contemporary phenomenology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 460–479
Scheler M (1913/1923). Wesen und Formen der Sympathie, Francke Verlag, Bern 1973. English Translation: The Nature of Sympathy. Trans. P. Heath, Routledge & Keegan Paul, London 1973
Schutz A (1932). Der sinnhafte Aufbau der sozialen Welt. Eine Einleitung in die verstehende Soziologie, Springer, Wien 1960. English Translation: Phenomenology of the Social World. Trans. G. Walsh, F. Lehnert, Northwestern University Press, Evanston 1967
Smith B, Mulligan K (1982) Pieces of a theory. In: Smith B (ed) Parts and moments. Studies in logic and formal ontology. Philosophia Verlag, Munich-Wien, pp 15–110
Stein E (1917). Zum Problem der Einfühlung, in Edith Stein Gesamtausgabe, Band 5, herausgegeben von Sondermann, M.A., Herder, Freiburg 2008. English Translation: On the Problem of Empathy. Trans. W. Stein, Springer, Dordrecht 1964
Zahavi D (2001) Beyond empathy. Phenomenological approaches to intersubjectivity. J Conscious Stud 8(5–7):151–167
Zahavi D (2007) Expression and empathy. In: Hutto DD, Ratcliffe M (eds) Folk psychology re-assessed. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 25–40
Zahavi D (2010) Empathy, Embodiment and interpersonal understanding: from lipps to Schutz. Inquiry 53(3):285–306
Zahavi D (2014) Self and other: exploring subjectivity, empathy, and shame. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
FDV, FF: Wrote Introduction and Empathy de vivo and empathy in fiction. FDV: Wrote Edith Stein’s Eidetics of Empathy. FF: Wrote Contemporary Accounts of Direct Perception of Others (nevertheless these paragraphs are the product of a joint revision).
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Francesca De Vecchi declares that she has no conflict of interest. Francesca Forlè declares that she has no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
De Vecchi, F., Forlè, F. Phenomenological Distinctions Between Empathy De Vivo and Empathy in Fiction: From Contemporary Direct Perception Theory Back to Edith Stein’s Eidetics of Empathy. Topoi 39, 761–770 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-019-09637-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-019-09637-6