Theory Of Sympathy Research Articles

Realizing the Emotional Crossing from “Selfishness” to “Goodness”: Realistic Reflections on Hume’S Theory of Sympathy

The essence of “sympathy” in Hume’s perspective is an emotional transmission mechanism. The exertion of its utility is affected by the relations of resemblance, contiguity and causation. In depth, this emotional transmission mechanism is composed of four links: “self-love” as the origin, “standing by” as the position, “self-reflection” as the impetus, and “goodness” as the emotional direction. Smooth and successful transmission of these four links will help to achieve the emotional crossing from “selfishness” to “goodness”. Under the enlightenment of Hume’s theory, a man needs to look on independently and objectively on the basis of natural conscience, in order to be a qualified sympathizer. At the social level, it is required to build a sympathy environment with impartiality and objectivity, which needs to strengthen sympathy education and to improve the moral reward and punishment mechanism, so as to provide sufficient internal and external conditions for the crossing from “selfishness” to “goodness”.

A sociedade como uma ordem moral: a teoria da sociabilidade de Adam Smith como uma resposta a Mandeville e Rousseau

Abstract This paper aims to show that Smith’s theory of sympathy and the impartial spectator can be understood as an attempt to overcome the selfish anthropology advocated by Mandeville and denounced by Rousseau. In Smith’s view, if Mandeville’s theory of the psychology behind commerce and exchange was correct, then Rousseau would be right in his denunciation of the moral evils of civilization. However, for Smith, Mandeville’s theses were wrong, and thus Rousseau’s critiques were largely unfounded, because, quite paradoxically, they relied on Mandeville’s description of sociability. Therefore, the often emphasized sympathies of Smith for Rousseau’s arguments should be mitigated.

HUME, HISTORY, AND THE USES OF SYMPATHY

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the role of sympathy and antipathy in David Hume's History of England (1754–1762) in relation to the broader place of sympathy in Hume's moral philosophy. Hume, in his earlier philosophical work, argues that sympathy is a naturally occurring responsiveness to others’ feelings, similar to the resonance between musical strings. In his History, however, he carefully curates his readers’ emotional responses, inviting sympathy with figures of suffering—such as King Charles I and Mary Queen of Scots—while also, often almost simultaneously, stirring intense antipathy for those whose religious extremism he regards as socially dangerous and beyond comprehension. After first situating the emergence of Hume's theory of sympathy in its early eighteenth‐century context, this article explores in detail the techniques of sentimental management that appear across the six volumes of the History of England. The elaborate deployment of emotions in Hume's historiography is shown to be in tension both with some aspects of his philosophy of natural human sympathy and with his brief reflections on the writing of history. Hume channeled his readers’ sympathies toward particular targets and against others. A careful analysis of this usefully sheds light on the management of sympathy in modern historiography, on which Hume has had an enduring influence.

Esencia y posibilidad de la intersubjetividad en Edith Stein y Max Scheler: Presentificación empática y percepción simpatética en la Fremderfahrung

This paper claims that phenomenon of empathy (Einfühlung), described by Edith Stein, and phenomenon of sympathy (Mitgefühl), analysed by Max Scheler, offer complementary insights into the essence of intersubjective link and into the conditions of possibility for experiencing the Other (Fremderfahrung). Stein’s and Scheler’s phenomenological analyses took place in the context of Husserlian researches on intersubjectivity problems, following a critical attitude towards modern theories of sympathy and towards Lipps’ psychology of empathy as well. However, Scheler’s and Stein’s standpoints got also together on the basis of a philosophical affinity and a critical shared position with regard to Husserl’s transcendental constitution of phenomenology. According to Stein to empathize involves a particular kind of apperception that actualizes the original contents of living experiences of the alien body in a non-original way, whereas for Scheler to sympathize refers to the manner of feeling with others some shared emotions, in an original way, thanks to inner perception of the living life of the neighbour, as another condition of possibility for the Fremderfahrung.

William Blake’s Pestilence, Sympathy, and the Politics of Feeling

ABSTRACT Pestilence has often been encountered as an “invisible enemy.” What happens when we give it visual form? This essay examines the dynamics of sympathy, spectatorship, and the politics of feeling activated in William Blake’s watercolor Pestilence: The Death of the First-Born (c. 1805). While the Exodus narrative controls fear of the plagues by encouraging reader identification with the chosen people protected by providence, Blake’s visual invention articulates an alternative politics of feeling. Drawing on David Hume’s and Adam Smith’s theories of sympathy, I demonstrate how Blake’s composition invites the viewer to engage with the Egyptian plagues through a dynamic of divided attention, alternating between different points of view, identifying with the position of the destroying angel, the chosen, and the victims. This dynamic contrasts the gigantic figure of the pestilential destroyer, which initially arrests the eye, with the miniaturized figures of the victims. By giving the tenth plague of Egypt an imposing physical form, and a face and reciprocating gaze to a child threatened by it, Blake’s scene of pestilence becomes a virtual test of moral sentiments in which viewers confront an ethics of freedom built on sacrifice.

래티머의 “두 가지 의식”: 『벗겨진 베일』에서 다시 읽는 조지 엘리엇의 공감 이론

This article claims that George Eliot’s idea of sympathy requires the deconstruction of the Subject and that Latimer, in “The Lifted Veil,” fails to sympathize with others because he tries to hold on to his power as the Subject. Eliot’s “The Lifted Veil” is considered a problematic novel in her oeuvre, since it seems to contradict her belief that the major role of art is to expand readers’ sympathy. Although Latimer’s telepathic ability allows him to gain an insight into other people’s minds, it does not lead him to the sympathy that is expected of readers. While critics have attributed this to Latimer’s inability to maintain his “double consciousness,” this article argues that it is because of the double consciousness that Latimer cannot move away from his egoistic self and reach the other. Moreover, as double consciousness is a crucial concept in Eliot’s idea of sympathy, examining Latimer’s failed sympathy in terms of his double consciousness helps us rethink how Eliot conceptualizes the ethics of sympathy. In order to understand what double consciousness means in Eliot’s theory of sympathy, I first read Ludwig Feuerbach’s The Essence of Christianity closely, which had a major influence on Eliot’s ideas. Second, I analyze the conflict between Latimer’s ability to dissolve the boundaries of time, space, and the subject and his desire to retain the boundaries of his subjectivity. Finally, I look at Latimer’s egocentric reading of Bertha’s character and argue that Eliot’s idea of sympathy is based not on similarity but on difference. The article demonstrates that Latimer’s torments reflect the reading experience, which seeks to expand readers’ sympathy; by delineating his suffering, Eliot sends readers the message that sympathy is a painful process involving the splitting up of subjectivity.

Lee, Wendy Anne. Failures of Feeling: Insensibility and the Novel.

Lee, Wendy Anne. <i>Failures of Feeling: Insensibility and the Novel</i>.

Rethinking Sympathy and Human Contact in Nineteenth-Century American Literature: Hawthorne, Douglass, Stowe, Dickinson. By Marianne Noble

Rethinking Sympathy and Human Contact in Nineteenth-Century American Literature: Hawthorne, Douglass, Stowe, Dickinson. By Marianne Noble

Reforming Utilitarianism: Lyric Poetry in J. S. Mill's "Thoughts on Poetry and Its Varieties" and Autobiography.

Mill's statement that "poetry is overheard" is often read as a definition of the lyric in miniature and is associated with social retreat. Yet Mill saw his encounter with the Wordsworthian lyric as a corrective to utilitarian social theory, and as a supplement to Adam Smith's theory of sympathy. Mill suggests that the writings of James Mill and Jeremy Bentham overlook the bond connecting individuals to one another. He reconceives communal aspects of feeling by drawing on Wordsworth's poetry as the fulfillment of Smith's affective account of social relations, a development which anticipates affect theory.

Chain effects in Kurpian

This article considers chain effects in Kurpian. It is observed that initial i triggers j-Insertion. The inserted [j] induces a lowering process, whereby /i/ changes into [e] or [ə], depending on the context. This change destroys the original trigger of j-Insertion, making the process opaque, as in jënteres [jəntɛrɛs] ‘interest’, which exhibits the following chain: i → ji → jə . I argue that chain effects cannot be modeled in Standard Optimality Theory, including its auxiliary theories: Max Feature theory, Sympathy theory and Candidate Chains theory. Consequently, chain effects constitute evidence for derivational levels envisaged by Derivational Optimality Theory. In particular j-Insertion must take place before /i/ is turned into [e] or [ə] because these vowels cannot trigger glide insertion.

The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations. Ethics, jurisprudence and political economy throughout the intellectual history of Adam Smith

This paper aims to address two research questions that have not been sufficiently examined by specialized studies of the intellectual history of Adam Smith. The first question asks why Smith, after developing his theory of sympathy in the first editions of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, started working on a theory of jurisprudence and ended up writing The Wealth of Nations. The second question asks why Smith, after writing and republishing The Wealth of Nations, asserted that he could not complete his theory of jurisprudence and incorporated a new part dedicated to virtue ethics in the last edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments in 1790. The paper shows that: 1) after developing his theory of sympathy in the first edition of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith stated that a theory of jurisprudence was necessary to form rules of justice that guarantee social order, and in the search for that theory he ended up writing The Wealth of Nations; 2) in The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith was devoted to studying the development of commerce in modern society and the conduct of the mercantile individual who pursued his own interest, and was incapable of elaborating on those general principles of justice that would ensure social harmony. Smith then delved into virtue ethics in order to recommend virtuous conduct that encourages mercantile individuals to become good citizens. The paper concludes by contending that economics would benefit from a better understanding of the relationship between political economy, jurisprudence and ethics in the work of Adam Smith. Specifically, economics would broaden in scope of study and contribute to larger debates about the past, present and future of modern civilization.

Reading Russian Philosophy and Max Scheler Together: The Problem of the Other I

The article explores the parallels between the theory of sympathy developed by Max Scheler and the understanding of the foreign I in Russian philosophy. Russian philosophy has been developing the topic of foreign psychic life since the 1880s, and it regards Scheler’s theory as unable to raise above the level of emotional contagion. True sympathy is possible, when the Other is already present to the I, or, according to Nikolay Lossky, there is an original gnoseological difference between “the lived” (perezhivaniye) and “the observed” (predmet nablyudeniya). Russian philosophy emphasizes the hermeneutical aspect of the problem – the original division and the search for understanding, as does Vasily Rozanov, who also shifted the accent from the general to the individual, particular and even intimate. Semyon Frank pointed out that the feelings of another person will only form a shell of meaningless observation, if not connected to the living knowledge through the human ability to resonate with something transcendent. And Russian philosophy assumes the fact of the original collectiveness of consciousness. This is the impulse given to it by the philosophy of Sergei Trubetskoy and developed in the philosophy of Russian neo-Kantianism, with Ivan Lapshin depicting a creative person, taking up the collective function of experimenting over the psyche to create and expand the map of human feelings.

夏目漱石・島村抱月・大西祝における「同情」の文学論

夏目漱石・島村抱月・大西祝における「同情」の文学論

Baillie’s Diagnostic Sublime

ABSTRACTThis essay argues that Joanna Baillie adopts a medical framework for dramatic spectatorship because she found the “medical gaze” a surprising way to solve some problems in theories of sympathy and social concern. After situating Baillie’s “Introductory Discourse” within eighteenth-century arguments about natural sociability, the essay reads her aesthetic theory alongside another text of 1798, Alexander Crichton’s Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Mental Derangement, to show what medical classification and diagnosis seemed to offer her account of the social mind.

Working Out the Details of Hume and Smith on Sympathy

Many scholars have had interesting things to say about the relationship between Adam Smith's and David Hume's theories of sympathy. The diversity of angles taken in these discussions demonstrates how fertile a topic of investigation this relationship is. This paper takes as its point of entry Hume's criticism of Smith's theory. Focusing on Hume's claim that Smith's theory describes a phenomenon that only occurs among friends, I argue that the disagreement between them is more about the importance than about the existence of what Smith calls the "pleasure of mutual sympathy." I conclude that this difference in emphasis might suggest a fundamental difference not just in how they conceive of human sociality but also in the motivations and influences behind their work.

Socialized view of man vs. rational choice theory: What does smith’s sympathy have to say?

To explain the anomaly of cooperation in finitely repeated games, some economists advance a socialized view of man as an antidote to rational choice theory. This paper confronts these economists insofar as they trace the socialized view to Smith’s theory of sympathy in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS). TMS rather advances a view that anticipates rational choice theory. These economists misinterpret TMS because they fail to realize that Smith’s sympathy actually involves two functions of sympathy: one that determines the optimal decision and another that determines the command of that decision. The dual function of sympathy parallels the two senses of rational choice: rationality as making the optimal decision and rationality as commanding that decision. Thus Smith’s sympathy does not support the socialized view of man.

The Cost of Sympathy: Towards a Visual Economics of John Webber’s ‘Atlas’

This paper examines John Webber’s illustrations for 'A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean' (1784) in relation to contemporary discussions around moral sentiment, specifically theories of sympathy. Adam Smith’s concept of ‘the impartial spectator’ is fundamental to my argument, which explores the visual mechanics of sympathy in Webber’s work. The focus of discussion draws on the sequence of engravings produced after Webber’s images, which were published as a separate ‘Atlas,’ the fourth of the four volumes that made up the official account. As a self-contained account of the voyage, the ‘Atlas’ forms its own coherent narrative cycle, one which employs many techniques to engage an eighteenth-century viewer’s sympathies on the visual level. If, according to Smith, we can only relate to others sympathetically through the mediation of ‘the impartial spectator,’ a contained centre within the self, which observes and regulates it, then the question this paper seeks to address is how Webber’s representational practices as exhibited in the ‘Atlas’ serve to construct visually the existence of this self-regulating self, externalizing what is essentially an internal process? And if and where this fails to be the case, then what pressures do the works place on Smith’s understanding of sympathy?

共感・模倣・変身 : 十八世紀イギリスにおける共感論と創作論の接点を求めて(美学会第四十四回全国大会報告)

共感・模倣・変身 : 十八世紀イギリスにおける共感論と創作論の接点を求めて(美学会第四十四回全国大会報告)

Sympathy, Empathy, and the Plight of Animals on Factory Farms

Are sympathy and empathy important indicators as to who is likely to join the anti-factory farming movement? Are female animal rights activists more likely than male activists to be sympathetic or empathetic toward animals in factory farms or are both genders about the same? Do male activists sympathize or empathize with factory farm animals differently than female activists do? These are important questions for understanding involvement in animal rights groups. In order to answer these questions, a survey that dealt with attitudes toward factory farming was administered to animal rights activists that attended a 2008 animal rights convention in the Washington, dc, area. The results of this survey provided an opportunity to see if feminist theories of sympathy and empathy are useful in explaining gender differences.

Maneiras criativas de não gostar de Bakhtin: Lydia Ginzburg e Mikhail Gasparov

RESUMO Este artigo contribui para nossa compreensão de como os russos receberam os conceitos de Bakhtin, principalmente dois influentes estudiosos russos, críticos de Bakhtin, cada um a partir de uma perspectiva diferente. O estudo de tais críticas é valioso, uma vez que nos incentiva a reexaminar nossas próprias percepções, por vezes complacentes, das teorias de Bakhtin. Mikhail Gasparov (1937-2005), um importante classicista e preeminente erudito do verso, publicou críticas virulentas contra Bakhtin entre 1979 e 2004. Seu problema com Bakhtin era essencialmente metodológico. Lydia Ginzburg (1902-1990), conhecida por suas Notes of a Blockade Person, e por estudos sobre os gêneros do diário, das memórias, da carta pessoal e do caderno do escritor, questionou os pressupostos psicológicos por trás das teorias bakhtinianas de simpatia e amor. Ginzburg também tinha sérias dúvidas quanto à ideia bakhtiniana do romance polifônico e a respeito do uso que Bakhtin fazia da oposição entre o monológico e o dialógico para caracterizar os romances de Tolstoi e Dostoiévski. Um exame atento das posições de Bakhtin e Ginzburg sobre o amor revela paralelos e diferenças interessantes. O artigo termina com sugestões sobre como as críticas de Ginsburg e de Gasparov podem nos ajudar a ler Bakhtin de maneiras criativas.