Phenomenology as a Form of Empathy.

Ratcliffe, M.

Abstract

This paper proposes that adopting a ‘phenomenological stance’ enables a distinctive kind of empathy, which is required in order to understand forms of experience that occur in psychiatric illness and elsewhere. For the most part, we interpret other people’s experiences against the backdrop of a shared world. Hence our attempts to appreciate interpersonal differences do not call into question a deeper level of commonality. A phenomenological stance involves suspending our habitual acceptance of that world. It thus allows us to contemplate the possibility of structurally different ways of ‘finding oneself in the world’. Such a stance, I suggest, can be incorporated into an empathetic appreciation of others’ experiences, amounting to what we might call ‘radical empathy’.

Citation

Ratcliffe, M. (2012). Phenomenology as a Form of Empathy. Inquiry, 55(5), 473-495. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174x.2012.716196

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2012
• Deposit Date: Dec 22, 2011
• Journal: Inquiry
• Print ISSN: 0020-174X
• Electronic ISSN: 1502-3923
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 55
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 473-495
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174x.2012.716196
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1501585