Let’s Talk Empathy…
I’ve written about empathy in literature, in the public square, even within our family lives. It’s something one would hope everyone could practice. So when the NEW YORK TIMES featured an article entitled THE TROUBLE WITH EMPATHY, of course I was curious. Because if EVERYONE IS USING THE EMPATHY WORD, do we truly know what it means?
The author of the NYT piece, Molly Worthen, stressed that the word appears often in our troubled times. Joe Biden has asked that we “project empathy,” though some activists today claim that just is not enough. So Worthen asks: “Are some divides too great for common humanity to bridge? When we attempt to step into the shoes of those very different from us, do we do more harm than good?”
FIRST LET’s LOOK AT A DEFINITION OF EMPATHY
Worthen states that empathy is: “Our capacity to see one another as fellow humans, to connect across differences. It is the foundation of a liberal, pluralist society. Yet skeptics say that what may seem like empathy may be another form of presumption, condescension or domination.”
Damn. When teaching literature and hoping to bring my students into the worlds of others, I never thought I might be condescending–yet Worthen is asking an important question.
She quotes Alisha Gaines, a professor of African American literature: “Empathy has to be considered in the context of institutions and power.” Gaines then makes the point: THAT SHE WANTS STUDENTS TO SEE BOOKS AS PASSAGEWAYS TO EXPERIENCES UNLIKE THEIR OWN.
THE BIRTH OF THE WORD
Worthen’s research on the subject of empathy, reveals that our impulses to participate in the feelings of others may be biological, rooted in our neurology. German philosophers referred to this experience as Einfuhlung or “in-feeling”, which was then translated in 1909 as the new English word “empathy.” WOW, I never knew that. Worthen explains that when being empathetic, you are basically projecting your own emotional experience or mingling your consciousness with what you are experiencing–a scene in a book, film, or in real life.
But what I found most interesting, and it goes back to my teaching career, is that humans, teachers, parents must never abandon the best and oldest tool for developing emotional understanding in our children–the reading of literature. Sarah Levine, professor of education, says that reading literature is a true empathy tool. Those who are widely read can actually become empathetic individuals, though sadly, the testing that comes after the reading is often relegated to fact finding and the emotion is forgotten.
Emerson Holloway, an English major, makes an important point concerning knowing your boundaries when reading and discussing different cultures. “I’ll never be able to truly understand…a culture or life-style different from my own.”
But Worthen makes a point that I totally agree with: “The effort to understand feels more important now that ever.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
Student Andie Horowitz says: “People often dismiss emotion as weakness, but a certain level of emotion makes you interested in something, wanting to find the truth. When you understand the people behind a movement, it becomes so much more personal. That’s where empathy comes into critical thinking and being motivated to learn more.”
Is empathy a word you find yourself using more and more? If you are raising children or grandchildren, does the word empathy ever come into your conversations as a way to discuss the common threads that bind all humans?
PHOTO CREDIT: the New York Times
