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Elizabeth Ventham: Desire and Empathy

Philosophie Kolloquium des Instituts

Empathising seems to be something that people can do with varying levels of success. I might be able to empathise somewhat with your enjoyment of a certain sport, for example, if I know about the rush of adrenaline that you feel when you play it and the sense of achievement that it brings you. But this might still be a fairly incomplete picture. One of your closer friends, who really understands your appreciation of the sense of community that comes with the sport, might be able to empathise with your enjoyment of it even more, getting more of the details right.

 

It’s clear, then, that an important part of understanding empathy will be in understanding what its success conditions are – what makes the difference when one instance is better than another. This paper argues that of all of the many complex mental states that can feature in a person's experience, a person's desires are the ones that matter for empathising with them. The matching of other parts of a subject’s mental states, on the other hand, (such as beliefs, sensations, and emotions) matter only insofar as they affect the subject's desires. I will argue in two parts: firstly by setting out the positive case for the importance of desire, and then by giving reasons against the intrinsic importance of other parts of a subject's experience. 

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15.06.2022, 18:30 Uhr - 20:00 Uhr
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