https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2332-2278
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ABSTRACT
In Rita Charon's account of narrative medicine, empathy seems to be an essential element of the clinical relationship. However, empathy has not received much attention, which I believe is problematic. First, I show that not only is there no clear definition of what empathy is, but that this conceptual gap creates ambiguity about its role in the practice of narrative medicine. Second, I argue that certain passages in Charon's work seem to implicitly characterize empathy as a combination of cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and sympathy, and that its inclusion in the practice of narrative medicine can be problematic. Third, following Dan Zahavi, I argue that a phenomenological account of empathy not only seems most compatible with the practices, values, and theoretical framework of narrative medicine, but is also capable of resolving the problems posed by alternative definitions of empathy and the ambiguity about the role of empathy in narrative medicine.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Charon, The Principles and Practice of Narrative Medicine; DasGupta and Charon, “Personal Illness Narratives”.
2 Charon, Narrative Medicine, 2006, vii.
3 Ibid., viii.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid., vii, my emphasis.
6 Charon, “Narrative Medicine”, 2001, 1897.
7 Charon clearly states that empathy is one of the goals of narrative medicine: “If we can understand clearly the passages that link the confrontation with a suffering person with the representation of that experience and the subsequent reflection on the meaning of it, we can conceptualize roads toward the eventual goals of narrative medicine—extending empathy and effective care toward the patients we serve and building community with colleagues with whom we do our work” Charon, “Narrative Medicine”, 2005, 131.
8 Charon, Narrative Medicine, 2006, 9.
9 Ibid., 8-9.
10 Ibid., 149.
11 Charon, “Narrative Medicine”, 2005.
12 Charon, Narrative Medicine, 2006, 133.
13 Ibid., 133.
14 Ibid., 133.
15 Eikeland et al., “The Physician”s Role and Empathy – a Qualitative Study of Third Year Medical Students”; Dickinson et al., “Detached Concern and Death Anxiety of First-year Medical Students”.
16 Batson, “These Things Called Empathy: Eight Related but Distinct Phenomena”; de Vignemont and Singer, “The Empathic Brain”.
17 Spaulding, “Cognitive Empathy”.
18 Maibom, The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Empathy.
19 Wispé, “The Distinction between Sympathy and Empathy”.
20 Charon, “Narrative Medicine”, 2001, 1898-1899, my emphasis.
21 Charon, Narrative Medicine, 2006, 9, my emphasis.
22 Coplan, “Understanding Empathy: Its Features and Effects”.
23 Gallagher, “Simulation Trouble”; Gallagher, “Empathy, Simulation, and Narrative”.
24 Goldie, “Anti-Empathy”.
25 I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for raising this point.
26 Zahavi, “Empathy and Other-Directed Intentionality”, 132.
27 Wilkinson et al., “Examining the Relationship between Burnout and Empathy in Healthcare Professionals”; Lamothe et al., “To Be or Not to Be Empathic”.
28 Bloom, Against Empathy.
29 Bubandt and Willerslev, “The Dark Side of Empathy”.
30 Hollan, “Emerging Issues in the Cross-Cultural Study of Empathy”.
31 Hollan, “Being There”.
32 Hollan, “Empathy across Cultures”, 350.
33 Ibid., 348.
34 Ibid.
35 Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature.
36 Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
37 Zahavi, “Empathy, Embodiment and Interpersonal Understanding”; Zahavi, “Empathy and Direct Social Perception”; Zahavi, “Phenomenology, Empathy, and Mindreading”.
38 Jardine and Szanto, “Empathy in the Phenomenological Tradition”.
39 Zahavi, Self and Other.
40 Husserl, Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy – Second Book; Husserl, Cartesian Meditations.
41 Stein, On the Problem of Empathy.
42 Scheler, The Nature of Sympathy.
43 Throop and Zahavi, “Dark and Bright Empathy”, 289.
44 Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 7.
45 Zahavi, “Simulation, Projection and Empathy”.
46 Zahavi, “Phenomenology, Empathy, and Mindreading”.
47 Zahavi, “Empathy and Other-Directed Intentionality”, 138.
48 Jardine, “Stein and Honneth on Empathy and Emotional Recognition”, 580.
49 Zahavi, Self and Other, 138.
50 Jardine, “Stein and Honneth on Empathy and Emotional Recognition”, 577.
51 Throop and Zahavi, “Dark and Bright Empathy”, 286.
52 Ibid., 287.
53 Zahavi, Self and Other, 167.
54 Zahavi, Self and Other, 166.
55 Zahavi and Overgaard, “Empathy without Isomorphism”, 8.
56 Vendrell Ferran, “Empathy, Emotional Sharing and Feelings in Stein”s Early Work”, 486.
57 Zahavi, “Empathy and Other-Directed Intentionality”, 132.
58 Scheler, The Nature of Sympathy, 5.
59 Drummond, “Empathy, Sympathetic Respect, and the Foundations of Morality”, 355.
60 Zahavi, “Empathy and Other-Directed Intentionality”, 140.
61 Zahavi, Self and Other, 163.
62 Stein, On the Problem of Empathy, 99.
63 Garden, “The Problem of Empathy”.
64 Stefanello, “Your Pain Is Not Mine”.
65 Charon, Narrative Medicine, 57.