The virtual other: empathy in the age of virtuality
In an age of growing virtual communication the question arises what role the human capacity of empathy plays in virtual relations. May empathy be detached from the immediate, embodied contact with others and be transferred to such relations? In order to answer this question, the paper - distinguishe...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1. Januar 2014
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| In: |
Journal of consciousness studies
Year: 2014, Volume: 21, Issue: 5-6, Pages: 152-173 |
| Online Access: | Aggregator, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/imp/jcs/2014/00000021/f0020005/art00009
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| Author Notes: | Thomas Fuchs |
| Summary: | In an age of growing virtual communication the question arises what role the human capacity of empathy plays in virtual relations. May empathy be detached from the immediate, embodied contact with others and be transferred to such relations? In order to answer this question, the paper - distinguishes between (1) primary, intercorporeal empathy and (2) extended empathy which is based on the imaginative representation of the other, and (3) fictional empathy which is directed to imagined or completely fictitious persons. The latter is characterized by an 'as-if-consciousness' - that maintains the difference between fiction and reality despite the empathy that one feels for the fictitious person. Based on these analyses, the paper further investigates the impact of the growing virtualization in postmodern culture. This is captured by the notions of (1) phantomization - as a media-based simulation of direct reality which undermines the as-if-consciousness, and (2) disembodied communication which shifts the modes of empathy towards the fictional pole at the risk of merely projecting one's own feelings onto the other. In sum, human empathy is not bound - to immediate intercorporeal contact, but becomes a crucial medium of virtual relations as well, albeit at the risk of projecting fictional emotions. |
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| Item Description: | Gesehen am 28.10.2020 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |