ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses 'type-orientation' and 'token-orientation', and highlights that our experience of others normally dwells somewhere in between the extremes of considering the other exclusively in the light of supra-individual types, on the one hand, and considering the other exclusively in the light of what is actually given in his or her presence, on the other. It suggests that empathy has something like a teleological structure it necessarily sets off with strong typification, as 'type-oriented', and is able to develop into a singularizing, 'token-oriented' grasp of the other. In this sense, when it comes to empathy, type-orientation seems to be more primary than token-orientation, which is another way of saying that even if we were interested in getting to know others at the outset, we are bound to ignore them as unique beings. Empathy has a direction, a certain teleology that is necessarily sets out as type-oriented and develops into a token-oriented experience.
