ABSTRACT
The third theme of political subjectivity to be addressed, political Others and foreignness, presents the greatest philosophical challenge because of its complexity and subtlety. In this chapter, the author raises a formidable objection to his thesis that the political community is coterminous with the life-world. He briefly examines some details of Husserl’s account of empathy, as a possible source of insight for the problem of the experience of political Others and foreignness. The author aims to pay lively attention to the ways in which the parallel with individual empathy may not hold and the idea of “political empathy” may not be justified. There is of course no question of setting forth the extensive philosophical groundwork underlying Husserl’s account of empathy, or of tracing out its implications in all respects. As a final matter pertaining to question of political empathy, it will be helpful to briefly consider the political philosophy of Carl Schmitt in light of the preceding analysis.
