Empathy and Consciousness
* Article: Evan Thompson. Empathy and Consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8,No.5–7,2001,pp.1–32
URL = https://evanthompsondotme.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/jcs-empathy.pdf
Abstract
"This article makes five main points.
(1) Individual human consciousness is formed in the dynamicinterrelation of self and other, andtherefore is inherently intersubjective.
(2) The concrete encounter of self and other fundamentally involves empathy, understood as a unique and irreducible kind of intentionality.
(3) Empathy is the precondition (the condition of possibility) of the science of consciousness.
(4) Human empathy is inherently developmental: open to it are pathways to non-egocentric or self-transcendent modes of intersubjectivity.
(5) Real progress in the understanding of intersubjectivity requires integrating the methods and findings of cognitive science, phenomenology, and contemplative and meditative psychologies of human transformation."