L’auto-empathie, ou le devenir de l’autrui-en-soi : définition et clinique du virtuel

Abstract

ObjectivesThe authors propose to explore a psychic phenomenon, the “auto-empathy”, as implemented in the context of digital spaces and particularly in the situation of the player who embodies an avatar (a pixel figure) in a video game. MethodFrom the perspective of a theoretical opening both phenomenological and psychoanalytic, auto-empathy is the process in which, taking the position of the “other-in-oneself”, we represent our subjective world – or the all states of our subjectivity (actions, emotions, thoughts) – by an empathic relationship with ourselves. The auto-empathy relationship is a process of distancing, and symbolic appropriation, in which we are divided into halves, implementing our innate ability to be both subject and object for ourselves. ResultsThe mediatization of auto-empathy in digital worlds can put ourselves instead of a figure that represents us – our avatar – so that our empathy is turned towards ourselves indirectly. This second time of empathy for a virtual figure of the self, called “mediatized auto-empathy” or “virtual auto-empathy”, would contribute thirdly to the development of empathy for oneself. Finally, the development of empathy for others would be supported in a fourth time, by the attention the players are paying to each other in network games. DiscussionThese four hypotheses, illustrated by clinical cases, open an interrogation concerning the frame of the psychoanalytical work. In the adolescent, the work of virtualisation, which consists in the creative anticipation of its subjective possibilities, seems regularly impeded. The mental duplicity is no longer in a position to operate a symbolizing distance between the real self and the virtual self, between the subjective self and the subjectivising self. The other-in-oneself is ineffective in proposing to the adolescent an empathic dialogue with oneself. Consequently, the autorepresentation flirts with the seizure, in particular in the subjective states of breaks. Nevertheless, the digital spaces could be indirect media of appropriation of subjective experiences for the teenager. ConclusionOur reflections led us to think of auto-empathy as the realization of the other-in-oneself which allows us to represent our own subjective world. The auto-empathy mediatized by an avatar can thus be described as a representation by empathy of our subjective part that contains this character. From then on, the space of the video game appears as a space of subjectivation.