Empathy’s Role in Different Levels of Understanding Literature : Empirical and Philosophical Perspectives

Abstract

There is a widespread intuition that readers’ empathy with fictional characters can help to understand certain works of literature. In a nutshell, the argument is the following: many works of literature contain stories about characters. In these cases, comprehending the work involves understanding the characters of that work. Up to a point, the same empathic skills or mechanisms form the basis of understanding both characters and real people (Currie 1995; Gerrig 1993; Jacobs 2015; Robinson 2005). If empathy helps to understand real people, it also helps to understand fictional characters. Hence, the conclusion is that empathy plays a helpful role in understanding at least some works of literature. Prima facie, the argument is sound. Note though, that the claim is not that empathy is necessary for understanding certain literary texts. However, if the conclusion is true, an empathic reader should, ceteris paribus, understand the relevant texts better than a reader without empathic reactions. Because this claim is an empirical one, this paper aims to examine whether empirical results can support it. After a brief clarification of the central terms, we will be able to present more precise formulations of the claim of empathy’s role in understanding literature. With these clarifications in hand, we present and discuss relevant empirical studies.