ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a simple similarity-based account loosely based on Nancy Snow’s definition of empathy, and argues that it faces insuperable problems. It considers more sophisticated versions, including Snow’s actual account, and an account defended by Frederique de Vignemont and Singer. Perhaps de Vignemont and Pierre Jacob could make the caring condition more demanding. The chapter argues that, although the latter do resolve some of the problems facing the simple definition, the accounts are still faced with decisive objections. Perhaps the caring condition yields the “other-centeredness” everyone agrees must be central to empathy. Social cognition researchers have hypothesized that empathy may hold the key to important and foundational issues in interpersonal understanding, in particular with respect to our understanding of the emotions of other people. The chapter considers whether the standard Husserlian alternative of dropping the similarity assumption is the best way forward.
