The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Empathy

411 Pages·2017·3.55 MB·English

by  Heidi Maibom

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THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF

PHILOSOPHY OF EMPATHY
Empathy plays a central role in the history and contemporary study of ethics, interpersonal
understanding, and the emotions, yet until now has been relatively underexplored. The Routledge
Handbook of Philosophy of Empathy is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems
and debates in this exciting field and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising over thirty
chapters by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into six parts:
• Core issues
• History of empathy
• Empathy and understanding
• Empathy and morals
• Empathy in art and aesthetics
• Empathy and individual differences.
Within these sections central topics and problems are examined, including: empathy and
imagination; neuroscience; David Hume and Adam Smith; understanding; evolution; altruism;
moral responsibility; art, aesthetics, and literature; gender; empathy and related disciplines such
as anthropology.
Essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy, particularly ethics and p hilosophy
of mind and psychology, the Handbook will also be of interest to those in related fields, such as
anthropology and social psychology.
Heidi L. Maibom is Professor of Philosophy at University of Cincinnati, USA. She works
on empathy, psychopathology, responsibility, and theory of mind. She has edited Empathy and
Morality (2014), co- edited Neurofeminism with R. Bluhm and A. J. Jacobsen (2012), and is
currently writing a book on perspective taking.
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Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy

Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy are state- of- the- art surveys of emerging, newly refreshed, and
important fields in philosophy, providing accessible yet thorough assessments of key problems, themes,
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All chapters for each volume are specially commissioned, and written by leading scholars in the
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The Routledge Handbook of the Stoic Tradition
Edited by John Sellars
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The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Biodiversity
Edited by Justin Garson, Anya Plutynski, and Sahotra Sarkar
The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of the Social Mind
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THE ROUTLEDGE

HANDBOOK OF PHILOSOPHY
OF EMPATHY
Edited by Heidi L. Maibom
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First published 2017
By Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Heidi L. Maibom, editorial and selection matter; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Heidi L. Maibom to be identified as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or
in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Names: Maibom, Heidi Lene, 1969- editor.
Title: The Routledge handbook of philosophy of empathy / edited by Heidi Maibom.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2017. |
Series: Routledge handbooks in philosophy |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016031108| ISBN 9781138855441 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781315282015 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Empathy.
Classification: LCC BF575.E55 R695 2017 |
DDC 152.4/1–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016031108
ISBN: 978- 1- 138- 85544- 1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 315- 28201- 5 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Out of House Publishing
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CONTENTS

Notes on contributors ix

Introduction to philosophy of empathy 1

Heidi L. Maibom
PART I
Core issues 11
1 Cognitive empathy 13

Shannon Spaulding
2 Affective empathy 22

Heidi L. Maibom
3 Phenomenology, empathy, and mindreading 33

Dan Zahavi
4 The neuroscience of empathy 44

Christine Cong Guo
5 Empathy and mirror neurons 54

Remy Debes
6 The evolution of empathy 64

Armin W. Schulz
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Contents
PART II
History of empathy 75
7 Empathy in the aesthetic tradition 77

Derek Matravers
8 Empathy in the phenomenological tradition 86

James Jardine and Thomas Szanto
9 Empathy in Hume and Smith 98

Imola Ilyes
10 Empathy in twentieth- century psychology 110

Mark H. Davis
11 Empathy, compassion, and “exchanging self and other”
in Indo- Tibetan Buddhism 123

Emily McRae
PART III
Empathy and understanding 135
12 Empathy and understanding reasons 137

Karsten R. Stueber
13 Empathy and knowing what it’s like 148

Ian Ravenscroft
14 Empathy and theories of direct perception 158

Shaun Gallagher
15 Empathy and intersubjectivity 169

Joshua May
16 Empathy and imagination 180

Adam Morton
17 Empathy and psychiatric illness 190

Matthew Ratcliffe
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Contents
PART IV
Empathy and morals 201
18 Empathy and altruism 203

Thomas Schramme
19 Empathy and moral judgment 215

Antti Kauppinen
20 Empathy and moral motivation 227

Alison E. Denham
21 Empathy and moral responsibility 242

David Shoemaker
22 Empathy and legal responsibility 253

Ishtiyaque Haji
23 Empathy and care ethics 264

Maurice Hamington
24 Empathy and medical therapy 273

Per Nortvedt
PART V
Empathy in art and aesthetics 283
25 Empathy and painting 285

Noël Carroll
26 Empathy in music 293

Jenefer Robinson
27 Empathy in literature 306

Eileen John
28 Empathy in film 317

Jane Stadler
29 Imaginative resistance and empathy 327

Kathleen Stock
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Contents
PART VI
Empathy and individual differences 339
30 Empathy across cultures 341

Douglas Hollan
31 Empathic accuracy 353

Vivian P. Ta and William Ickes
32 Empathy and psychopathology 364

Jeanette Kennett
33 Gender and empathy 377

Robyn Bluhm
Index 388

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NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Robyn Bluhm is Associate Professor at Michigan State University, USA with a joint appoint-
ment in the Department of Philosophy and Lyman Briggs College. Her research examines
philosophical issues in neuroscience and in medicine, with a particular focus on the relationship
between ethical and epistemological questions in these areas. She is a co- editor of Neurofeminism:
Issues at the Intersection of Feminist Theory and Cognitive Science.
Noël Carroll is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City
University of New York, USA. He has written over fifteen books, including most recently Living
in an Artworld, Art in Three Dimensions, and On Criticism and Humour: A Very Short Introduction.
Mark H. Davis is Professor of Psychology at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL, USA. His
research areas include empathy, interpersonal conflict, and entrepreneurial mindset. He is the
author of one of the most widely used measures of empathy, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index.
Remy Debes is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Memphis, USA. He
has published articles and book chapters on empathy, emotion, moral psychology, moral senti-
mentalism, and human dignity. He also works in the history of ethics, with a special interest in
the French and Scottish Enlightenment. He is co-e ditor of Ethical Sentimentalism (with Karsten
Stueber) and Dignity: A History, both forthcoming.
Alison E. Denham works on topics in ethics, moral psychology, and aesthetics. She is the
author of Metaphor and Moral Experience (2000) and, as editor, Plato on Art and Beauty (2011).
She is jointly appointed to the Departments of Philosophy and Political Economy at Tulane
University, New Orleans, USA. She is a Senior Research Fellow at St Anne’s College, Oxford,
and Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford.
Shaun Gallagher is the Lillian and Morrie Moss Professor of Excellence in Philosophy at
the University of Memphis, USA, and Professorial Fellow at the Faculty of Law, Humanities
and the Arts, University of Wollongong, Australia. He is currently a Humboldt Foundation
Anneliese Maier Research Fellow (2012– 18). Publications include Phenomenology (2012), The
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