ABSTRACT
Self psychologists in general tend to elevate the psychoanalytic method to an art by asserting that empathy is the sine qua non of the psychoanalytic method. The author suggest that empathy is likely a part of the gestalt-building aspect of perception. One might therefore look at empathy as an attempt to build images of others which have both discursive and nondiscursive rational elements, that is linear sequential and spatial temporal thought forms. Earlier the author sharpened the distinction between psychology and other sciences by suggesting that physical phenomena are grasped by our senses, and psychological data by introspection and empathy. Gedo insists that Kohut endorses empathy as an interpersonal process that is not merely an instrument for recognition of psychological configurations, but is equally useful in treating both guilty and tragic man. The espousal of empathy as an independent apparatus the author fear implies a new form of animism and vitalism.
