Navigating autistic empathy: phenomenological perspectives and debates

Area of Science:

• Phenomenology
• Autism Studies
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Critiques the Theory of Mind framework's explanation of autistic social difficulties.
• Highlights phenomenological accounts grounding these difficulties in intersubjectivity.
• Identifies an underemphasis on empathy's reciprocal structure in existing analyses.

Purpose of the Study:

• Re-examine phenomenological accounts of autism using the double empathy theory.
• Integrate the concept of reciprocal empathy into understanding autistic-allistic interactions.
• Provide a phenomenological foundation for non-deficit models of autistic experience.

Main Methods:

• Phenomenological analysis drawing on Husserl's work.
• Critically engages with contemporary phenomenological critiques of Theory of Mind.
• Synthesizes insights from the double empathy theory.

Main Results:

• Phenomenological understanding reveals empathy as inherently reciprocal and co-constituted.
• Husserlian phenomenology supports the bidirectional nature of social breakdowns proposed by double empathy theory.
• Challenges unidirectional deficit models of autistic sociality.

Conclusions:

• Husserlian phenomenology offers a robust framework for understanding reciprocal empathy in autism.
• Supports the double empathy theory's emphasis on bidirectional social interaction.
• Advocates for a paradigm shift beyond deficit-based explanations in autism research.