The Role of Empathy as a Path to Intimacy

• Authors: Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

Title variants

PL

Rola empatii jako drogi do intymności

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The fear of absolute loneliness is the universal drive in all human beings. The opposite of loneliness is intimacy. Both are intense modes of human consciousness. Intimacy is secured through empathy, which is based on a mutual relationship of shared trust, respect and values, as well as a mutual sharing of feelings, meanings and affection. The dynamics of both intimacy and empathy – unlike sympathy and pity – must be mutual; whether it is expressed between two human beings, or between a person and the Lord through the power of prayer.

PL

Strach przed absolutnym osamotnieniem stanowi powszechny motyw ludzkiego działania. Przeciwieństwem osamotnienia jest intymność. Tak jedno, jak i drugie stanowią dominanty ludzkiej świadomości. Intymność, możliwa dzięki empatii, opiera się na wzajemnym zaufaniu i szacunku; na współdzielonych wartościach, uczuciach, znaczeniach i przywiązaniu. Dynamika bliskości i empatii – w przeciwieństwie do współczucia i litości – musi być wzajemna; zarówno w relacji dwojga ludzi, jak i człowieka i Boga dzięki sile modlitwy.

Keywords

EN

loneliness; separation; intimacy; empathy; self-consciousness; intentionality; free will; faith; Kant; Husserl; Freud

PL

osamotnienie; rozłąka; intymność; empatia; samoświadomość; intencjonalność; wolna wola; wiara; Kant; Husserl; Freud

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu. Wydawnictwo UMK
• Journal: Paedagogia Christiana
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 2/46
• Pages: 11-24

Contributors

author

Ben Lazare Mijuskovic

• ORCID: 0000-0001-9647-6609
• California State University at Dominguez Hills, USA

References

• Arendt, H. (1976). The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt.
• Augustine (1959). The Confessions. Trans. J. K. Ryan. New York: Doubleday and Co.
• Freud, S. (1950). Totem and Taboo. Trans. J. Strachey. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Freud, S. (1959). Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. Trans. J. Strachey. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Freud, S. (1960). The Ego and the Id. Trans. J. Riviere. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Freud, S. (1961). Civilization and Its Discontents. Trans. J. Strachey. New York: W. W. Norton.
• Hegel, G. W. F. (1971). Philosophy of Mind. Trans. W. Wallace. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Hegel, G.W. F., (1977). Phenomenology of Spirit. Trans. A. V. Miller. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Husserl, E. (1962). Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology. New York: Collier Books.
• Husserl, E. (1973). Cartesian Meditations. An Introduction to Phenomenology. Trans. D. Cairns. The Hague: Matinus Nijhoff.
• Kant, I. (1956). Critique of Practical Reason. Trans. L. W. Beck. New York: Bobbs-Merrill.
• Kant, I. (1958). Critique of Pure Reason. Trans. N. Kemp Smith. London: MacMillan and Co..
• Kant, I. (2011). Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime and Other Writings, P. Frierson & P. Guyer (Eds.). Cambridge, 2011.
• Lipps, T. (1979). Empathy, Inner Imitation, and Sense-Feelings. In M. Rader (Ed.), A Modern Book of Esthetics (pp. 371-378). New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
• Mijuskovic, B. (1970). Descartes’s Bridge to the External World: The Piece of Wax. Studi Internazionali di Filosofia, 3, 65-81. https://doi.org/10.5840/StudIntFil1971322
• Mijuskovic, B. (1991). Intimacy and Loneliness. Journal of Couples Therapy, 1(3-4), 39-48. https://doi.org/10.1300/J036v01n03_04
• Mijuskovic, B. (1979-1980). Loneliness and Narcissism. Psychoanalytic Review, 66 (4), 479-492.
• Mijuskovic, B. (2012). Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.
• Mijuskovic, B. (2015a). Cognitive and Motivational Roots of Universal Loneliness. In A. Sha’ked & A. Rokach, Addressing Loneliness: Coping, Prevention and Clinical Interventions (pp. 20-33). New York: Routledge.
• Mijuskovic, B. (2015b). Feeling Lonesome: The Philosophy and Psychology of Loneliness. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
• Mijuskovic, B. (2018). Consciousness and Loneliness: Theoria and Praxis. Leuven: Brill Publishers.
• Poulet, G. (1956). Studies in Human Time. Trans. E. Coleman. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.
• Ruch, F. (Ed.). (1953). Psychology and Life. Chicago: Scott, Foresman.
• Spiegelberg, H. (1965). The Phenomenological Movement: A Historical Introduction. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1965.
• Spitz, R. (1945). Hospitalism: An Inquiry into the Genesis of Psychiatric Conditions in Early Childhood. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 1, 53-74.
• Spitz, R. (1946). Hospitalism: A Follow Up Report. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 2, 113-117.
• Zilboorg, G. (1938). Loneliness. Atlantic Monthly, February, 45-54.

Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.12775/Pch.2020.016