EMPATHY AND THE EXTENDED MIND

Author: Krueger, Joel W.

Source: Zygon, Volume 44, Number 3, September 2009 , pp. 675-698(24)

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Abstract:

I draw upon the conceptual resources of the extended mind thesis (EM) to analyze empathy and interpersonal understanding. Against the dominant mentalistic paradigm, I argue that empathy is fundamentally an extended bodily activity and that much of our social understanding happens outside of the head. First, I look at how the two dominant models of interpersonal understanding, theory theory and simulation theory, portray the cognitive link between folk psychology and empathy. Next, I challenge their internalist orthodoxy and offer an alternative “extended” characterization of empathy. In support of this characterization, I analyze some narratives of individuals with Moebius syndrome, a kind of expressive deficit resulting from bilateral facial paralysis. I conclude by discussing how a Zen Buddhist ethics of responsiveness is helpful for articulating the practical significance of an extended, body-based account of empathy.

Keywords: empathy; extended mind; intersubjectivity; Moebius syndrome; phenomenology; simulation theory; social cognition; theory theory; Zen Buddhism

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2009.01024.x

Affiliations: 1: Postdoctoral research fellow at the Danish National Research Foundation, Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen, Njalsgade 140-142, 5th Floor, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark;, Email: joelk@hum.ku.dk.

Publication date: 2009-09-01