ABSTRACT
N Gregory Hamilton has given us two charming and sensitive examples to illustrate his concept of empathic understanding. His thesis rests importantly on the use of his own emotional experiences in coming to his conclusions. He remarks, for example, “I felt washed over by a familiar and yet unfamiliar sense of enchantment, as if I were looking at my childhood self in a mirror.” And: “Again, a feeling of reminiscence and quiescence swept over me. I felt that I had remembered something visually and tactilely.” Hamilton believes that these kinds of experiences distinguish empathy from other kinds of knowledge, and that relatedness is necessary to reach and disseminate this kind of knowledge.
