Empathy! So What?

• Authors: Krzysztof T. Konecki

Title variants

PL

Empatia! I co z tego?

Abstracts

PL

Artykuł dotyczy koncepcji empatii zastosowanej w eksperymencie kontemplacyjnym w celu zrozumienia cierpienia ofiar wojny w Ukrainie. Omówiono w nim koncepcję empatii w odniesieniu do perspektywy fenomenologicznej i symbolicznego interakcjonizmu. Dyskusja ta była autorowi potrzebna do osiągnięcia pewnej ramy interpretacyjnej wniosków z eksperymentu kontemplacyjnego, który przeprowadził ze studentami. W eksperymencie zastosowano kontemplacyjne metody badawcze. Studenci wykonywali autoobserwacje i autoraportowanie swoich przeżyć podczas oglądania zdjęć ofiar wojny i uchodźców z Ukrainy. Ćwiczenia oddechowe (pranajama) były praktykowane pomiędzy różnymi autoobserwacjami, aby oczyścić umysły i uwolnić napięcia. Na koniec eksperymentu studenci zostali również zapytani o deficyt empatii we współczesnym społeczeństwie i przedstawili swoje wnioski na ten temat. Na koniec podsumowano, w jaki sposób empatia jest wywoływana i ucieleśniana oraz odpowiedziano na pytanie, czy można być empatycznym wobec osób znajdujących się w zupełnie innej i w dodatku traumatycznej sytuacji. Artykuł kończy się stwierdzeniem, że empatia jest bezpośrednią reakcją na stan cierpienia innych ludzi. Jednak jest ona również ramowana społecznie. Autor stwierdza, że empatię można społecznie rozwijać, aby poradzić sobie z aktualnie występującym deficytem empatii.

EN

The paper deals with the concept of empathy applied in the contemplative experiment to understand the suffering of the victims of the war in Ukraine. I discuss the concept of empathy in the phenomenological perspective and symbolic interactionists’ view. I needed this discussion to frame the conclusions from the contemplative experiment I did with my students. I used the contemplative methods of research. The students did self-observations and self-reports on their lived experiences while observing photos of the victims and refugees from Ukraine. Breathing exercises (pranayama) were practiced between different self-observations to clean the minds and release tensions. At the end of the experiment, the students were also asked about the empathy deficit in contemporary society, and provided comments on it. Finally, I concluded how empathy is evoked and embodied, and I answered the question about whether it is possible to be empathetic toward people in a totally different and traumatic situation. I end with the statement that empathy is a direct reaction to the condition of the suffering of other people. However, it is also socially-framed. I conclude that it could be socially-developed to cope with an empathy deficit.

Keywords

PL

wojna w Ukrainie; empatia; interakcjonizm symboliczny; fenomenologia; badania kontemplacyjne

EN

war in Ukraine; empathy; symbolic interactionism; phenomenology; contemplative research

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Przegląd Socjologii Jakościowej
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 194-233

Dates

published

2022

Contributors

author

Krzysztof T. Konecki

• University of Lodz, Poland

• https://orcid.org/0000000273703490

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Identifiers

DOI

10.18778/1733-8069.18.4.08

Biblioteka Nauki

28033229