The Collected Works of EDITH STEIN ON THE PROBLEM OF EMPATHY

I{otes on the Translatiort
xxv
Notes on the Translation
he pagination of the original has been retained in the lefthand
margin and all footnotes and cross references refer to
these pages.
In general, W.R.B. Gibson's translation of the Ideenle has been
followed for the translation of technical phenomenological terminology.
An exceptionis AusschaLtung, which has been rendered
"exclusion" rather than "disconnection."
In Chapter III the distinction benveen Kdrper and Leib becomes
very important. While this distinction is quire clear in German,
the usual translation in English is "body" for both rvords. K'drper
signifies the material or physical aspects of one's body, i.e., that
which can be sensually perceived as matter. By contrast, Leib
emphasizes the animation of the body, the perception of it as alive
instead of simply as a thing. In accordance with this distinction
the word Kdrper has usually been rendered as "physical body"
and Leib as "living body."
The distinction between Erlebnis and Erfahrung becomes important
in several places. E. Stein used, Erlebni.s in the mosr general
sense of experience, i.e., as anything which happens to a
subject. In the feu'places lvhere she uses Erfohrung, she is emphasizing
sense experience, such as the experience or perception of
foreign experience. To make this distinction clear, Erfahrunghas
been rendered as "perception" or "perceiving," with the Germarr
in brackets to distinguish it from Wahrnehmung. Erlebnis has
consistently been translated as "experience."
-l'he word hineinuersetzen also has no simple English equivalent.
Literally it ref-ers to the acr of transl-erring or putting oneself into
another's place. "Projection into" seemed to be the most satisf-actorY
tra115l21iqn.
A frrrther problem arose with the translation of Seele and
seelisch. seele most clearly means "soul" in the sense of psyche and
has bee' rendered as such. Howe'er, "soulful" o. ,,rpi.it.,ol" i'
English does not render rhe sense of seelisch. As far as the transla_
tor ccruld see, E. Stein is not making a distinction between seerisch
ancl psychisch and so both words havb
'rhe
been rendered as ,.psychic.,,
translation of ceis,t in chapter IV presented a sp.iiar p.oblem,
since neither of the two usual renderings inio English,
"-i"{' or "spirit," is reaily satisfactory. The connorarions of
"rnind" are too narror{,', while those of "spirit" are too broad.
"spirit" has been selecred for this third ed'ition with the cavear
rhat the reader keep in mind that the author is nor referring to a
moral or religious entity in this context. Rather, the sense i, Jf tne
creative human spirit that is the subjecr matrer of what we call the
humanities, the social sciences, andlaw and that the Germans call
Geistesu.issenschaften, literally,,investigations into spirit.,,
Geisteswissenschaften has bee. transrated as""curtural r.i..,...,,, a
c()mmon rendering of this term.
xxiv