The Empathetic Emotions in the History of Philosophy

Empathy is widely discussed, both in philosophy and more generally. One might ask what empathy itself is and how it relates to specific emotions, such as sympathy. This volume is concerned with theories of emotions that can be described as empathetic, either because they presuppose the human capacity for empathy or because they are essential to how empathy operates. By exploring how Western philosophers-from Ancient Greece up to the twentieth century-have understood these emotions, it becomes possible not only to gain a deeper understanding of certain empathetic emotions and their relation to the concept of empathy, but to also see how these emotions are placed within a broader moral, social, or religious context. Taking into account this context is essential when it comes to engaging with a number of compelling questions. Does sympathy provide an adequate basis for a theory of human sociability and fellowship? What roles do compassion and pity play in our moral lives, and in the formation of the practical identities of human beings? Can the altruistic character and concern for others that is traditionally ascribed to certain emotions be reconciled with competing values like self-love and the self-directedness of its concerns? Empathetic Emotions in the History of Philosophy provides answers to these important questions.

Keith Ansell-Pearson, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick,David James, Reader in Philosophy, University of Warwick

Keith Ansell-Pearson is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, where he taught from 1993 until his retirement in 2021. He was previously Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Malawi (1985-87) and Lecturer in Modern Political Thought at Queen Mary College of London University (1988-1993). In 2013-14 he was a Senior Visiting Research Fellow in the Humanities at Rice University.

David James is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Warwick. His publications include Property and its Forms in Classical German Philosophy (2023), Practical Necessity, Freedom, and History: From Hobbes to Marx (2021), and Rousseau and German Idealism: Freedom, Dependence and Necessity (2013). He is also the editor of A Critical Guide to Hegel's Elements of the Philosophy of Right (2017) and co-editor (with Günter Zöller) of The Cambridge Companion to Fichte (2016).

Introduction1. The Early History of âNaturalâ Sympathy: Contagious Affect and Universal Kinship in the Hellenistic Mediterranean, Brooke Holmes2. Between Inhumane Detachment and the Darker Sides of Empathy: Stoicism on the Empathetic Emotions (including Pity), Matthew Sharpe3. Towards âa merely excusable lifeâ: Reason, Imagination, and the Empathic Emotions in Montaigneâs Ethics, Christopher Edelman4. The Empathetic Emotions in Seventeenth-Century France: Descartes and Malebranche on Pity and Compassion, Ryan Patrick Hanley5. From Evil, Useless Pity to Active Empathy or generositas: Empathetic Emotions in Spinozaâs Ethics, Kasper Kristensen6. Hume on Sympathy, Humanity, and the Passions, Jacqueline Taylor7. Rousseau on the Natural Goodness of Pity, David James8. Adam Smith, Political Stability, and the Pull of Sympathy, Remy Debes9. Sophie de Grouchy on Sympathy, Economic Inequality, and the Corruption of Moral Sentiments, Olivia Bailey10. Kant on Reason, Feeling, and Human Caring, Allen Wood11. Schopenhauerâs Ethics of Compassion: Pantheistic not Pessimistic, Sandra Shapshay12. The Connection between Love and Compassion in Kierkegaardâs Works of Love, Sharon Krishek13. Envisioning Others without Pretence: Husserl and Stein on the Irreducibility, Complexity, and Value of Empathy, James Jardine14. Education Towards Empathy: Adornoâs Theory of Coldness Reconstructed, James Gordon Finlayson15. Simone Weil and the Empathetic Emotions, Lissa McCullough