The Basis for Responsibility in Empathy: an Exploration

Paulus Pimomo

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Chapter 12 The Basis for Responsibility in Empathy: an Exploration

In: Empathy: Emotional, Ethical and Epistemological Narratives

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Paulus Pimomo

Paulus Pimomo
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 152–161

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004398122_013

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Abstract

This chapter focuses on the relational problems in empathy at the collective and individual levels in order to explore the generally neglected subject of responsibility for empathy-related behavior. The idea is that examining the relational problems at both levels would reveal probable causes and point to possible solutions. I use a fictional short story by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (“Dead Men’s Path”) to draw attention to the problems of group relations. Achebe’s story deals with power relations under colonialism which, by extension, can be made to stand in for the all-too-familiar phenomenon of dominant groups trying to change, even makeover, a minority’s way of life. For obstacles in individual relations I refer to a real-life event, the trial of Khmer Rouge leader Duch for war crimes, and the role played by his victim-turned-witness Francois Bizot. Bizot’s empathic connection with his captor Duch is not singular in history, but it is extremely rare so I use it as a reverse example of the universal human problem of refusing to recognize the supposed ‘other’ in ourselves. Taken together, Achebe’s story and Bizot’s part in Duch’s trial can help us understand what being a responsible community and a responsible individual might mean in relations that involve empathy. But any deontological exploration would require a basis for determining responsibility, so I tentatively propose the basis for empathic responsibility to be the twin obligation of a) recognizing the supposed radical ‘other’ in oneself (say, the torturer living inside the victim – in potential) and b) accepting human diversity, which would necessitate negotiating differences with others as a salient mode of becoming human together.¹

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Empathy: Emotional, Ethical and Epistemological Narratives

Series: At the Interface / Probing the Boundaries, Volume: 123

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004398122

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 24 May 2019

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Chapter 12 The Basis for Responsibility in Empathy: an Exploration

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Empathy: Emotional, Ethical and Epistemological Narratives

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