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Related Experiment Videos

Vagueness and empathy: a Jamesian view

W J Gavin

    The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy
    |February 1, 1981
    PubMed
    Summary

    Pragmatism challenges certainty by showing how science and philosophy influence common sense. Empathy emerges as a complex issue, compelling action rather than offering simple solutions.

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    Area of Science:

    • Philosophy of Science
    • Metaphysics
    • Epistemology

    Background:

    • William James's Pragmatism distinguishes between common sense, science, and philosophy.
    • Science and philosophy idealize common sense, introducing a quest for certainty.
    • This idealization complicates empathy, making the 'vague' unacceptable.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To analyze empathy as an epistemic and ontological problem using James's philosophy.
    • To explore the impact of scientific and philosophical worldviews on empathy.
    • To understand the challenges of empathy in medicine.

    Main Methods:

    • Conceptual analysis drawing on James's views on language and metaphysics.
    • Application of Sartrean concepts like 'rip' or 'tear' to medical consciousness.
    • Examination of the physician's struggle to recover a pre-reflective state.

    Main Results:

    • Empathy is presented as epistemically uncertain and ontologically action-compelling.
    • Medical practice is complicated by dual consciousness: individual and professional.
    • Physicians strive to reconnect with a pre-reflective, common-sense world.

    Conclusions:

    • Empathy's complexity resists certainty, demanding action and a return to pre-reflective understanding.
    • The physician's role involves navigating infected common sense towards a recovered, albeit incomplete, pre-reflective state.
    • Recovery of authentic connection, though never fully achieved, remains a necessary pursuit in medicine.

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