The Collected Works of EDITH STEIN ON THE PROBLEM OF EMPATHY

l,,,n .n. undersrandi ,r,rlno.u.!r,:t;:;..,"", and a way or understanding
person is through descriptive analyses of empathy. By
means of the latter, she gives what may be called a first draft of
the psycho-physical-spiritual nature of person, one which is not
superficial but n'hich raises many quesrions to be addressed in her
future n'orks. It was E. Stein's conviction that phenomenology
was the most appropriate approach to the investigation of the
structure of the human person, and she gave it her best efforts
throughout her scholarly career.
This work, which was her Ph.D. dissertation, reveals both in
method and content the breadth, depth, and precision of her
philosophizing even at the beginning of her career. It reveals also
something of the enthusiasm and excitement which she, one of
Edmund Husserl's most brilliant pupils, experienced in the la_
borious research and writing that was required. Even at this time,
in preparing a dissertation which had to win the ,.Master's', ap_
proval, Edith displays an originality and independence of thought
that anticipated later existential developments in pheno-meqo.logy.
Not only does she differ from Husserl-albeit diplomatically-in
some respects, birt she also takes issue with some theo_
ries of Scheler, T. Lipps, Miinsterberg, and others of her
contemporaries, in the process of formulating her own theory.
In addition ro the rranslation of the rext and the valuable footnotes,
the translator has supplied an introduction which gives
readers an excellenl entr6e into rhe thought rtorld of the phe_
nomenologists of the time. Within rhe spaie of a feu. pages. she
gives a helpful introduction into the Husserlian viewpoini which
influenced E. Srein and intt.r the organization and significance of
the various sections of the text. In the final section of her introduction,
she raises a question regarding whether E. Stein holds an
unjustifiable assumprion concerning the type of rationality which
values and feelings have. This is an example of an issue which
seems to me to be elucidated later in the Beitriige zur
philosophischen Begrilndung der Psychologie und d,er Geisduissenschaften
fContributions to the Philosophical Grounding of pslchotogy
and the cultural sciencesl published in 1922. It is a questi"" tt-rii
may be legitimately raised on rhe basis of this first work.
Finally, it should be noted rhat rhe book has the porential to be
Foreuord to the Third Edition
useful to scholars in psychology. E. Stein's own srudies in psychology
befbre concentrating on phenomenology appear to have
been of'great value to her in this and later works, in which the
analyses of'human experiences are a springboard to an understatrdir.rg
of'the nature of the human person.
Spalding University
Louisville, Kentucky
September, 1988
Mary Catharine Baseheart, S.C.N.
M.A., Ph.D.
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