Empathy and historical understanding: A reappraisal of ‘empathic unsettlement’

Abstract

‘Empathy’ is a key concept in epistemology of history usually applied to understand other’s actions. The issue is linked to Dilthey’s hermeneutical theory, the starting point where all the discussions about historical understanding are coming from. The aim of this paper is to consider the concept of ‘empathy’ and to explore its connections with notions like trauma and suffering of others. We will analyze LaCapra’s ‘empathic unsettlement’ in order to see if it offers a plausible way to adopt empathy in history without falling in the typical misunderstandings (allegedly mindreading abilities, esoteric spiritual contact, and so on) and keeping the true-claims safe. Recovering some ideas connected to empathy would be helpful so as not to miss the point that history is a product of human agency. Obviously, historical processes involve contextual conditions which are difficult for agents to change. Some processes are so radically new, such as traumatic events, that alternative approaches are required to unfold their complex meanings. With the intention of assessing the fruitfulness of LaCapra’s theory to reach historical (and empathic) understanding we will propose an example taken not from trauma studies but from Argentinean history in order to evaluate the possibility of a broader scope of the ‘empathic unsettlement.’