Philosophical Perspectives on Empathy

This book advances research by exploring and challenging different theoretical approaches to empathy. It includes essays that advocate for the centrality of perspective-taking in empathy, as well as others that advance alternative theories that rely on narrative engagement, attunement, and the "second-person" model of empathy.

Derek Matravers is Professor of Philosophy at The Open University. His recent work includes Introducing Philosophy of Art: Eight Case Studies (Routledge, 2013); Fiction and Narrative (OUP, 2014); and Empathy (2017). He directs, along with Helen Frowe, the AHRC-funded project, Heritage in War. Anik Waldow is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney. She has published articles on sympathy, the role of affect in the formation of the self and associationist theories of thought and language. She is the author of Hume and the Problem of Other Minds (2009).

1. Introduction Derek Matravers and Anik Waldow Part I: Empathy as a Method 2. Empathy: Language, Affect and Cognition in the Discovery of the Past Anik Waldow 3. Emotional Engagement in Scientific Biographies Nick Jardine Part II: Empathy and Perceptive Taking 4. Empathy and Meta-Reflective Capacities Elisa Galgut 5. The Object of an Empathetic Emotion Derek Matravers 6. What Can We Learn From Taking Another's Perspective? Heidi Maibom 7. Sympathy and Projection, and Why We Should Be Wary of Empathy Louisa Braddock Part III: Challenges to Empathy 8. Exploring Enactive Empathy: Actively Responding to and Understanding Others Daniel Hutto and Alan Jurgens 9. Understanding Individual Agency: How Empathy and Narrative Competence Cooperate Karsten Stueber 10. Empathy without Sharing: Empathetic Responsiveness in Psychanalysis and Politics Kate Abramson and Adam Leite 11. An Imaginative-Associative Account of Affective Empathy Talia Morag