Reflection is a special term in phenomenology. Edith Stein uses it to mean a “looking-at” the experience itself, especially of the experience of empathy.
The acts of the subject are considered experiences. Perceiving the laptop in front of me is an experience. Empathizing with my mother about the slowness of the internet connection is an experience. Reflection, itself, is an experience.
The act of reflection does not “go out,” unlike the other acts (e.g. outer perception and empathy). Rather, it looks at the subject’s experience of the object. So, when I “reflect,” in the phenomenological sense, I am focusing on my own experience at the moment. I go out from myself to look at my experience from a certain distance.
What is unique with reflection is that it captures the relationship of the subject and its lived experience. That is why when the subject reflects, it always shows the subject’s intimacy with the experience at the moment.
Edith Stein delineated the limits of empathy. She would say that though empathy is an experience of foreign consciousness, this consciousness determines how empathic projection proceeds.
I, as the subject, would be able to empathize with all things that have at least a living body. To be sure, this perception of living body is a precondition to any empathic experience.
Thus, I would be able to empathize with plants, animals, and of course, humans. Stein says that as the difference between my type and the other’s type increases, the smaller the range of empathic experience becomes.
Obviously, I would be able to empathize with my fellow man more because my type (human being) is the same as this man’s type (human being). Thus, I would be able to get a great deal of knowledge of this man’s experiences.
With the animals, the empathic projection is very limited because the type is different than mine. I could not understand many things the animals have and do. But I could perceive their suffering and pain. I could certainly understand when a dog cries in pain, for example.
Lastly, I would have the least empathic experience with the plants. Plants are very far from my type. The knowledge that I could get from them is only about their “life.” In short, I know that they are at least alive in contrast to a cement block, for example.
The limits, thus, of empathic experience is determined by the type of the subject and the object of the experience. The closer the object’s type is to mine, the greater the possibility of empathic experience.
Empathy does not just happen. In Stein’s phenomenological analysis of empathy, in order for the experience to happen, the precondition for it must be met. And the precondition is the awareness of the other as a living body.
Awareness of the other’s living body is given through outer perception. Because outer perception enables me to also grasp the “hidden” features of any physical thing, the other’s feature as living is also, then, seen. The living body is co-seen in the fulfillment of outer perception.
Of course, outer perception’s power stops there. It does not have the capability of bringing the other’s living body to givenness to oneself. I would need empathy for that.
But the point here is that I need to perceive first the other as a living body in order for empathy, as the perception of the other’s experience, to commence.
In the past few days, I’ve posted the three levels of empathic experience according to Edith Stein, going through them one by one. I attempted to have a broad presentation about them. Here, I’ll summarize the three levels.
Empathic experience is not merely an awareness of the emotional states of other people. Rather, it goes through levels, which would mean that it is a lived experience. With empathy, I live through the experience of the other.
The first level is empathic awareness. This is the start of any empathic experience. In here, I have an awareness of what the other individual is feeling. But if I follow through the other’s lead, then the experience will advance to the second level.
The second level is empathic fulfillment. This is the apex of any empathic experience. What happens here is that I would be “at” the place of the other individual, making myself as if the other. Intimacy builds here. And when this is complete, the experience advances to the third level.
The third level is empathic comprehension. This is the final phase of any empathic experience. In here, I have a relatively comprehensive knowledge of the experience of the other individual. In this level, I recognize that my experience is foreign.
Here is one example of how these three levels play out:
While walking into the hallway of the school, I saw my friend. She was sitting on the bench, but with all smiles while reading a book. Right there and then, I knew that she’s happy (empathic awareness). I was about to walk past her because I knew that I shouldn’t disturb her.
But she was able to glance at me. She called me over while she closed the book. I could tell that her eyes were filled with joy. I sat beside her and she told me about what happened that made her elated. As I listened, I was able to understand her joy as if I was her in the situation (empathic fulfillment). I understood that she and her parents were okay now, and that they were able to hug each other.
Then after a while, I was able to “get to my senses” and comprehended her joy and the reason for that joy (empathic comprehension). I recognized that it was her unique experience. I was not living my own experience, but hers.
Then, someone called her name. It was her sister. So, she said bye.
The Toulmin method is a tool for creating a good argument and analyzing other’s argument. We will know the connections the author makes to get to his or her point.
Through this deconstructing method, we will have a clearer picture of the author’s flow of argument.
This will be a good tool for my thesis.
The Method
The Toulmin method has, generally, six (6) elements.
Claim
Grounds
Warrant
Backing
Qualifier
Rebuttal
The claim is what the author fights for. It is his or her stand or position on a subject matter. The grounds are the various data to support the claim. The warrant is the connection of the grounds to the claim. The backing is the support for the warrant. The qualifier puts certain limitations or conditions on the warrant. The rebuttal is a set of counter-data (i.e., which are against the author’s claim) that the author acknowledges to be valid.
An Example
I claim that all people are inherently good. My ground is that people help each other in times of crisis. My warrant is that being helpful is a trait of goodness. My backing for the warrant is that helpfulness motivates other people to help others also.
Now, as a qualifier for my warrant, there may be circumstances where being helpful is undesirable. And a rebuttal for my claim could be that people are capable of evil actions, actions that are done deliberately with no remorse.
Pure acts are acts of the subject targeting objects of the real world. These acts are, precisely, the mediation between the subject and the object world.
After a few days of reading On the Problem of Empathy, I finally came up with a matrix showing the targets of some pure acts, categorizing them into two (2): the “I” and the other.
What is shown below is that the acts (the ones in the rows) can or cannot access certain parts of the individual (the ones in the columns).
The Matrix
Outer perception can access the physical body of the self, and also the physical and living body of the other. Bodily perception can access both physical and living body of the self. Inner perception can only access one’s own psyche. Empathy, which is a sui generis form of perception, can access the psyche of the other.
An insight that I get from this is that the subject, which is a psycho-physical individual, has itself acts which may be of help in getting a clearer picture of itself and of the other individual.
Clarification of Terms
The “I” is, of course, the self.
The other is another self, another “I.”
The psychic refers to the mind, the spirit, or the soul.
The physical body refers to the human body, but treated as a thing comparable to a pen or a chair.
The living body refers to the human body that has sensations.
In an empathic experience, I become aware of a unique experience through empathic awareness. Then, being led by this experience, I experience an intimate connection through empathic fulfillment. And when this is finished, a new level commences, which I call empathic comprehension.
For Edith Stein, there are three (3) levels of empathic experience. This would mean that empathy lets the subject go through a unique experience, so unique that Stein would say that it is sui generis.
The third, and final, level of empathic experience is the “comprehensive objectification of the explained experience.” This refers to a comprehension of the unique experience of empathy. What happens here is that the subject has finished grasping the other’s experience and therefore recognize it as foreign. In other words, it is the completion of empathy where I recognize the experience as the other’s experience.
Only at this level that I become aware of the non-primordiality of the experience (i.e. the experience is not mine all along). Of course, Stein would say that there is never a fusion of the two subjects (i.e. they do not become one and the same). Nevertheless, the recognition of alterity in an empathic experience happens only at this level.
This level, thus, lets the subject return to how it was in the first level. In the first level, the subject faces the object and connects with it through empathy. Here at the third level, the subject faces the object again, but with a new kind of objectification: a comprehensive understanding of the situation of the other.
Empathic Comprehension In Practice
What does this level look like in practice?
In practice, it looks like this: when after you have “put yourself in the other’s shoes,” you as if say to yourself, “That is his problem, not mine” (of course, not in an insensitive way). There is just, thus, a recognition that the experience that you have undergone through empathy (the second level) is not yours but the other’s.
It is, then, just like coming to your senses.
P.S. A disclosure: “empathic comprehension” is my term as I describe the third level of empathic experience.
Stein would say that a person’s empathic experience might stay at empathic awareness, the first level. This would probably be due to various reasons. But it can proceed to the second level if the situation permits.
For Edith Stein, there are three (3) levels of empathic experience. This would mean that empathy lets the subject go through a unique experience, so unique that Stein would say that it is sui generis.
Empathic Fulfillment
The second level of empathic experience is fulfilling explication. This refers to the intimate experience of being “at” the place of the other subject as if the subject becomes one with the other subject. In layman’s terms, this would be “putting oneself in the other’s shoes.” For Stein (p.12), this level is the “highest level of the consummation of empathy,” agreeing with Lipps.
Whereas in the first level the subject faces the other subject, in the second level the subject is at the other subject’s place.
It should be pointed out that for Stein, individuality is still preserved even in this intimate connection. Meaning to say, I do not become the other. While empathizing, I would always be myself and the other would still be a wholly other. It is just that, in empathy, I would be experiencing things as if I am in the other’s place.
Also, it should be noted that even at this level, emotional response from the subject is not warranted, and therefore may not happen. But, of course, sympathy might happen because of empathy.
Empathic Fulfillment in Practice
What does empathic fulfillment look like in practice?
Have you not experienced losing yourself (i.e., not conscious of yourself) when you were listening with your best friend? Have you never wondered that you know why a person feels this or that way? Have you not noticed that you seem to truly understand your friend’s grief over the loss of a loved one? Have you not experienced knowing the plight of a street vendor? Have you not noticed that you seem to understand the wrath your mother feels over your father?
This kind of understanding of what the other feels, as if you are the other, is what Stein calls empathy. This level is indeed the peak of the empathic experience.
P.S. All of the above is based on Edith Stein’s On the Problem of Empathy.
P.P.S. A disclosure: “empathic fulfillment” is my own term as I describe the second level of empathic experience.
Due to the worldwide outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2, I am one with those who believe that it is prudent for workers to be at home for safety. All may continue working, but at home. Kudos to those companies who support the “work from home” policy.
Let us continue to hope and pray that our scientists and doctors, with the leadership of the World Health Organization (WHO), will be able to contain the virus contagion and develop a cure or vaccine as soon as possible.
My Own Situation
Where I work, the school implemented a “work from home” policy just a few days ago. It was forced to do so due to a directive from the city government to all schools because the country has rising cases of COVID-19. As to now, where I live, there is a province-wide community quarantine to prevent further transmission of the virus SARS-CoV-2.
My Google Classroom
Google Classroom
Since I would be working from home, I decided to use Google Classroom for my classes. It is an option encouraged by the school. All classes would be online-based. So far, so good, but with issues here and there. Issues are to be expected, of course, given that I was not trained for online teaching, and so were the students. I am still learning as to what really works. Some students like the new online-based classes, but some do not.
As expected, some students are complaining about the new setup of the school. They are voicing out their opinion on social media. They point out the difficulty of online-based classes, and also of the limited availability of the internet access.
But I told some of them that classes need to continue, and the teachers, together with the school, are doing their best to have a good transition from face-to-face class setting to online-based class setting. It is not as if we all want this to happen. We are just forced to work some things out given the disease outbreak.
I think that all of my online classes are well set. I utilize calendar blocking for class preparation. And so far, the new setup has not adversely affected my thesis reading and writing.
May all those tasked in developing the cure be given wisdom. May all the doctors, nurses, and the medical staff be given a healing hand. May all people cooperate for safety and security. May all those infected with the virus have a strong will to live. May all those who are not infected keep themselves safe.
May God bless us all! St. Edith Stein, pray for us.
For Edith Stein, there are three (3) levels of empathic experience. This would mean that empathy lets the subject go through a unique experience, so unique that Stein would say that it is sui generis.
The first of these levels is the emergence of experience. This simply refers to an awareness of a foreign experience, whatever this foreign experience is. This is the surface level of empathy because it is what happens first in the whole empathic experience.
In this level, the subject faces its object, the other subject.
Have you never wondered how you “see” your friend as happy? Have you not experienced knowing at first glance that your sister is sad? Have you not seen your child crying in pain? Have you not noticed that your co-worker was not in the mood when she entered the door? Have you not known that your mother was excited even when she did not tell you anything yet?
All of these are cases of the first level of empathic experience. It is simply a wonderful and very unique perception of what is in the person. Yes, we see the person in the physical body. Yet, we also see his or her experiences, experiences that are truly his or her own. Precisely, this seeing of foreign experience is what Stein calls empathy.
P.S. A disclosure: “empathic awareness” is my own term as I describe the first level of empathic experience.
Empathy 