Empathy and Human Experience

http://www.srhe.ucsb.edu/lectures/info/thompson.html

Evan Thompson Empathy and Human Experience Thursday February 7 2002, 7:00-9:00 PM, Corwin Pavilion, University Center Discussant: José Cabezon, Religious Studies Discussant: Pascal Boyer AbstractBioEventVideoText

Abstract Empathy, in the most general sense, is the basic affective capacity by which we comprehend another person’s experience; accordingly, it underlies all of the particular feelings and emotions we have for others. In this lecture I examine the human experience of empathy from the perspectives of cognitive science, phenomenological philosophy, and Buddhist contemplative psychology. I argue that human experience depends (formatively and constitutively) on the dynamic coupling of self and other in empathy, and that both phenomenology and contemplative psychology disclose a relational intersubjectivity prior to the reified constructs of “self” and “other.” Finally, I suggest that for the dialogue between science and contemplative experience to move forward, cognitive science needs to grow beyond its traditional antipathy to first-person experience by incorporating first-person methods directly into its empirical research. Evan Thompson is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and a member of the Center for Vision Research at York University in Toronto. He received his B.A. in Asian Studies from Amherst College (1983), and his M.A. (1985) and Ph.D. (1990) in Philosophy from the University of Toronto. He is the author of numerous articles in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind, and has written two published books, Colour Vision: A Study in Cognitive Science and the Philosophy of Perception (Routledge Press, 1995), and (with Francisco Varela and Eleanor Rosch) The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience (MIT Press, 1991). This book explored the relationship between cognitive science and Buddhist meditative psychology, and was one of the first works to put forward the “embodied/enactive” perspective in cognitive science. Currently, Evan Thompson is finishing a new book, co-authored with the late Francisco Varela, called Why the Mind Isn’t in the Head (Harvard University Press, forthcoming). The theme of this book is that the individual human mind is immanent in the living body, the natural environment, and the interpersonal social world, rather than being limited to brain processes inside the head. The book advances this view by using material drawn from a wide variety of sources—biology, psychology, and neuroscience; the “analytic” philosophies of mind and science; phenomenological psychology and philosophy; and the contemplative or “wisdom tradition” of Buddhist psychology and philosophy. Its aim is to demonstrate how the contemporary sciences of mind and life can be brought into harmony with studies of human experience as it is lived and verbally articulated in the first person. Top of Page

Event Evan Thompson delivered his address on Thursday evening to a full audience at Corwin Pavillion. His address was followed by comments from two faculty members, a question-and-answer session, and a general reception. Below are some pictures from his visit. Jim Proctor, Director of the UCSB Templeton Lectures Series, welcomes the audience and introduces Evan Thompson. The audience listens attentively to the lecture. Evan Thompson gives his lecture on "Empathy and Human Experience." Evan Thompson presents an overview of the relationship between cognitive science, phenomenology and contemplative psychology, as described in his lecture. Pascal Boyer comments on the lecture, mindful that Evan would reply to his talk the following evening. José Cabezon (UCSB, Department of Religious Studies) comments on the lecture from a Buddhist perspective. Evan Thompson responds to a question from the audience, while José Cabezon and Pascal Boyer look on. The audience listens to Evan Thompson's response to one of their questions.