The Collected Works of EDITH STEIN ON THE PROBLEM OF EMPATHY

Prtfoce to the Third
Edition
Prtfoce to the Firs t and
Second Editiofls
hen the Institute of
\ /
Carmelite Studies asked me to pre-
Y Y pare a new edition of my translation of Edith Stein's
doctoral dissertation for their series of her collected works in
English, I was delighted to do so, because a wider audience will
now have the opportunity to examine a young scholar's rigorous
and technical work in the light of her later reputation as a powerful
and revered spiritual giant.
At this time, about thirty years afrer presenting this translation
as my thesis for the degree of Masrer of Philosophy, I find myself
again drawn to my great-aunt's work, this time as a guide to living
the Christian life fully and deepll'. I am srruck by the fact that she
returned to scholarly work in a new way after her conversion to
Christianity and continued in this work for the remainder of her
lif'e. This teaches me thar God expects me to use all of my gifts in
His service and challenges me to find a way ro do so rather than
withdrawing from the exigencies of this earthli life.
I rvant to thank Sr. Mary Catharine Baseheart for her encouragement
and her thoughtful foreword and Reverend John Sullivan
for his generous help in preparing this neu,edition.
Waltraut Stein, Ph.D.
Atlanta, Georgia
October, 1988
he translation of Zurn Problem d,er Einfi,-hlung presented
here is a translation of the doctoral diss.z:rtation of'Edith
Stein, done under Edmund Husserl. -I'he degre 4 \\'as awarded tn
l9l6 at the University of Freiburg in Breisgiu, and the dissertation
in this form n'as published in ig t 7 at U'alte. t -I-he title of the
treatise originalll' rvas Das Einfi)htungsproblem in sein er historischen
Entuichlung und in phiinomenologisiei Betrachtu.ag [The Empathy
Problem as It Dneloped Historicail and. ConsideyT d Phlttomenologicallyl.'I'he
first historical chapter u'as omitred i1 . publication and
seems no longer to be extant.
This work is a description of the narure of errr pathy within the
f ranter+'ork of Husserl's phenomenologl as pre . ented nrairtly in
Volume I of ldeas' As Husserl's assistanl, Edith Frad the opportunity
to become intimately acquainted with his 1 rinking. In fact,
she edited Volume ll of ldeas (cf. Husserl iar La IY, Martinus
N1ihotr, 1952) which deals to a large exrenr u,it]-, the same problems
as her own work on empathy. -lhough she c aims not to have
seen Volume II before completing herlwn wr:rk
(see Au.thor's
Foreword), she had evidently been iollowing Hu...serl very closely
as he was at that time r.r,orking out his ideas.-Thu: her dissertation
clearly shorvs how she has develol>ecl her inter'i)retation rlf the
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