Edith Stein’s phenomenology of sensual and emotional empathy

Abstract

This paper presents and explicates the theory of empathy found in Edith Stein's early philosophy, notably in the book On the Problem of Empathy, published in 1917, but also by proceeding from complementary thoughts on bodily intentionality and intersubjectivity found in Philosophy of Psychology and the Humanities published in 1922. In these works Stein puts forward an innovative and detailed theory of empathy, which is developed in the framework of a philosophical anthropology involving questions of psychophysical causality, social ontology and moral philosophy. Empathy, according to Stein, is a feelingbased experience of another person's feeling that develops throughout three successive steps on two interrelated levels. The key to understanding the empathy process á la Stein is to explicate how the steps of empathy are attuned in nature, since the affective qualities provide the energy and logic by way of which the empathy process is not only inaugurated but also proceeds through the three steps and carries meaning on two different levels corresponding to two different types of empathy: sensual and emotional empathy. Stein's theory has great potential for better understanding and moving beyond some major disagreements found in the contemporary empathy debate regarding, for instance, the relation between perception and simulation, the distinction between what is called low-level and highlevel empathy, and the issue of how and in what sense it may be possible to share feelings in the empathy process.

From Luminosity to Love: Metaphysics and Empathy in Hearer of the Word

“…This understanding is added to my experiential repertoire. 78 Despite a material difference in the third stage, there is a remarkable similarity in the dynamic movement of empathy in Stein and the reditio in Rahner that will help tease out the interpersonal and affective notes otherwise muted in Rahner's thought.…”

Entre lo que se dice y lo que se calla: visitando el concepto de empatía en la atención integral a la salud del adulto mayor

“…Anclada sobre las mismas bases conceptuales de Titchener (1909), la autora se centra en comprobar que los sentimientos no operan sólo a un nivel de profundidad sensual o emocional; también se pueden distinguir en cuanto a duración, alcance e intensidad. Más precisamente, Stein "defiende la línea divisoria entre los sentimientos que sólo tienen una cualidad experiencial y los sentimientos que también tienen un contenido de significado al estar sobre las cosas en el mundo" (17). Con su auxilio teórico, es posible aclarar que empatía no significa imitar los sentimientos ajenos, mas adquirir un sentido de comprensión del 'otro yo' (17).…”

“…Más precisamente, Stein "defiende la línea divisoria entre los sentimientos que sólo tienen una cualidad experiencial y los sentimientos que también tienen un contenido de significado al estar sobre las cosas en el mundo" (17). Con su auxilio teórico, es posible aclarar que empatía no significa imitar los sentimientos ajenos, mas adquirir un sentido de comprensión del 'otro yo' (17).…”

Introduction: Empathy, Shared Emotions, and Social Identity

“…2 See Zahavi (2014Zahavi ( , 2015aZahavi ( , 2018, León and Zahavi (2016), Szanto (2015), Moran (2015, 2016); cf. also Vendrell Ferran (2015), Svenaeus (2016Svenaeus ( , 2018. 3 Research on shared or collective emotions is still very recent, but constitutes an already burgeoning interdisciplinary field, including sociologists, social and developmental psychologists (cf., for an overview, von Scheve and Salmela 2014) and numerous philosophers (e.g., Gilbert 2002Gilbert , 2014Tollefsen 2006;Konzelmann Ziv 2007, 2009Helm 2008Helm , 2017Schmid 2009Schmid , 2014Huebner 2011;Michael 2011;Salmela 2012Salmela , 2014Nagatsu 2016a, 2016b;Krueger 2014Krueger , 2015Szanto 2015Szanto , 2018León et al (forthcoming); Thonhauser forthcoming; for recent review articles, see Schmid (2018) and Salmela (forthcoming).…”