Empathy, Intentionality and "Other Mind": from Phenomenology to Contemporary Versions of Naturalism
Antropologìčnì Vimìri Fìlosofsʹkih Doslìdžen' October 13, 2025 O. S. Pankratova 1 citation
Acts of empathy are intentional acts of consciousness directed toward other minds, forming a basis for studying intersubjectivity. The article argues that within the classical phenomenological tradition, empathic acts qualify as intentional, with a specific focus on accessing the mental reality of others. In contrast, the analytic tradition and early philosophy of consciousness do not treat such claims as obvious. However, contemporary discussions on embodied cognition increasingly view empathy as more promising for grounding social sciences and understanding other minds than approaches based on argument by analogy or inference to the best explanation. The analysis combines phenomenological and analytic traditions to reach a new level of generalization.