Reading Stories, Reading (Others’) Lives: Empathy, Intersubjectivity, and Narrative Understanding

Abstract

Empathy seems to be in short supply nowadays, judging by how we cope with the main challenges of our times. Th ere is despair and devastation in so many parts of the world, yet eff orts to invite empathy with the victims from those who are better off and can help oft en have disappointing results. Consider, among the many examples available, appeals for donations for Syria, which present the desperate situation of the refugees to convince all of us to help them. Here is but one example, an appeal from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (unhcr) focusing on a special category of victims: