On the Problem of Empathy: The Case of Yap, Federated States of Micronesia

Abstract

Abstract Drawing from research conducted on the personal, cultural, and moral significance of pain on the island of Yap (Waqab), Federated States of Micronesia, I argue in this article that one possible root to reincorporating empathy within the context of contemporary culture theory is to uncover the cultural and phenomenological ways that understandings of empathy and what constitutes authentic empathetic acts are shaped. After briefly examining foundational philosophical definitions of empathy, the article advances a number of differing cultural phenomenological orientations implicated in the experience and expression of empathy. These orientations are understood to help to foreground the place of empathy in what may otherwise be viewed as a general reluctance to engage in empathetic attunement in Yapese society. [empathy, cultural phenomenology, morality, suffering, Yap]