The Collected Works of EDITH STEIN ON THE PROBLEM OF EMPATHY

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2 Edith Stein Empathy as the Understanding of Spiritual Persons il3 125> Only in the last case can we say that there is no spiritual person present. In all other cases r+'e must not put the person's nonunfblding on a par with his non-existence. Rather, the spiritual person also exists even if he is not unfolded. As the realization of the spiritual person, the psycho-physical individual can be called the "empirical person." As "nature" he is subject to the laws of causality, as "spirit" to the lal's of meaning. Also that meaningful context of psychic attributes of $'hich we spoke earlier, by virtue of which the comprehensior-r of one attribute reasonably motivates progress to the other, is his only as a personal one. Finest sensitivity to ethical values and a u'ill leaving them completely unheeded and only allowing itself to be guided by sensual motives do not go together in the unity of a meaning, are unintelligible. And so an action also bids for understanding. It is not merely to be carried out empathically as a single experience, but experienced as proceeding meaningfully from the total structure of the person.l33 6. The Existence of the Spirit Simmel has said that the intelligibility of characters vouches fbr their objectivity, that it constitutes "historical truth." To be sure, he does n()t distinguish this truth from poetic truth. A creature of the free imap;ination can also be an intelligible person. Moreover, histr>rical objects must be real. Some kind of point of depirrture, such as a trait of the historical character, must be given to me itr order to demonstratc the meaninp; context the object reveals to me as an historical {act. But rf I get possession r>f it, in whatever fflanner, I have an existil.rg product attcl not a merely thntasized one. In empathic comprehension of'the foreign spiritual individual, I also have the possibilrty of bringing his unverified behavior t
ll4 Edith Stein Empatfu as the Understanding of Spiritual Persons I l5 rr'ho f'eels a value and can realize it, does so. In normative terms: If' \.ou fleel a value and can realize it, then do it'r3{iEvery'actit>n confornting to this larv is rational or right. However, this determines nothing about the material value of the action; we only have the formal conditions of a valuable action. Rational laws have nr>thing to sav about the acti()ll's material value. This makes the rntelligible structures of experience into objects of a possible valuing, too, but these have not so {'ar been constituted in empathic comprehension as value ob-iects (except for the particular class ol unreflected experiences of our orvn value which we noted).r'r; (b) Personal Types and the Conditions of the Possibility of Empathl With Persons As we saw, Dilthey I'urther cotttends that personalities have an experier.rtial structure of a typical character. We also agree with him in this. Because o[ the cl'$'hat is ltrr us intelligible. On a higher levcl, this is the repetitiorl of possible empathic deception that we have shwn in the constitution o{'the psychophysical individual. However, we have not demonstrated that this belongs to the essence of empathv or said that the individual character is made the basis for experiencir.rg
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The Collected Works of EDITH STEIN
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vi Edith Stein 4. -I'he Controversy
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l,,,n .n. undersrandi ,r,rlno.u.!r,
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xiv Edith Stein problem of empathy
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xvlll Edith Stein enological standp
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xxii Edith Stein Tr an s I ato r' s
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ON THE PROBLEM OF EMPATHY Foreword
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4 Edith Stein What t an be leli if
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8 Edith Stem primordially given, i'
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Page 23 and 24: 20 Edith Stein The Essence of Acts
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Page 37 and 38: 48 Edith Stein The psychic is in es
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Page 41 and 42: Edith Stein Constitution of the P s
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Page 45 and 46: 62 Edith Stein as a physical bocly
Page 47 and 48: 66 Edith Stein (h) The Foreign Liui
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Page 53 and 54: 78 Edith stein Constitution of the
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Page 61 and 62: 105> Edith Stein absolutely as the
Page 63 and 64: 98 Edith Stein 3. The Constitution
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Page 67 and 68: 106 Edith Stein center or the "1" k
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The Collected Works of EDITH STEIN ON THE PROBLEM OF EMPATHY

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