The Dark Side of Empathy: Nietzsche
March 12, 2014
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Join us for a discussion of …
What is empathy? And what are its costs? Considering the abilities that are needed for human beings to develop empathy, Nietzsche concluded that the very flexibility of our mind to adapt to someone else would hollow us out. Standing against empathy, Nietzsche holds that we need to learn to block empathy. This talk will examine and evaluate Nietzsche’s assumptions and consider different theories of empathy.
With speaker Fritz Breithaupt
Fritz Breithaupt is professor and chair of Germanic Studies at Indiana University, as well as Interim Dean in the Hutton Honors College, and adjunct professor in Comparative Literature and Cognitive Science. His current work focuses on narrative thinking, moral reasoning, and empathy. He has published books on Goethe (2000), the intellectual history of money (2008), empathy (2009; 2011) and on narrative thinking (2012). His research has received numerous recognitions, such as a Humboldt-Fellowship and the Distinguished Remak Scholar award. He writes frequently for the German press, especially Die Zeit and Zeit Campus.
This talk has been organized by Patrick Fortmann (Germanic Studies), and is sponsored by: the Germanic Studies Department, French and Francophone Studies, the Honors College, and the School of Literatures, Cultural Studies, and Linguistics
Date posted
Jun 8, 2020
Date updated
Jun 8, 2020