The Act of Consciousness Called Empathy

Nathalie Barbosa de la Cadena. Professor, Philosophy Department, Federal University of Juiz de For (UFJF), Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil.

The article Empathy moments, published by Trans/Form/Ação (vol. 48, no. 2, 2025) seeks to analyze the act of consciousness called “empathy” based on Husserl’s phenomenology. Structured in four topics, the first is an introduction, in which the author assumes Husserlian phenomenology as a theoretical framework and proposes to apply phenomenological reduction as a method, highlighting the necessity of a grounding study of practical life as a mathesis of spirit and humanity.

Secondly, presents Husserl’s comprehension of empathy. This is an act of consciousness that allows the recognition of other human beings and to “put myself on the other shoes”. She emphasizes that these are different aspects of empathizing, mediated by an act of free will, a decision.

So, analyses and decomposes empathy into three moments: the recognition of the other Ego, which is an involuntary act of consciousness; consecutively, the decision of opening myself up to the other Ego, which is a voluntary act of consciousness, that may lead to, finally, feeling with the other Ego.

On the third topic, she investigates the possible consequences of completing or not the act of empathy. First, if the act of empathy is not complete, that is to say, if the subject decides not to open himself up to the other Ego, there are two options: to react both affectionately and distressfully, or judge groundlessly, to leave out or to act.

Second, if the act of empathy is complete, that is to say, if the subject decides to open himself up to the other Ego, there are two options: may react affectionately or distressfully, or comprehend the other Ego feelings, to reflect on his reasons and circumstances, judge him, then to decide if is the case of omitting myself or to act compassionately or confrontationally.

Following this reasoning, there is a mental map.

Image: made by the author

Finally, on the fourth topic, she presents some considerations about the importance of empathy in improving intersubjective relations.

To read the article, access

CADENA, N.B. Empathy moments. Trans/Form/Ação [online]. 2025, vol. 48, no. 2, e025037 [viewed 28 April 2025]. https://doi.org/10.1590/0101-3173.2025.v48.n2.e025037. Available from: https://www.scielo.br/j/trans/a/yXgzFfzGF4jCrbByBWQwCNv/

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