The Case of Dr Know-it-all: Empathy Gives Us Our Humanity

A Rumor of Empathy with Lou Agosta

You do not need a philosopher to tell you what empathy is. What then do you need? How about a folktale, a narrative, a fairy tale?

Rather than start with a definition of empathy, my proposal is to start by telling a couple of stories, in which empathy (and its breakdown) plays a crucial role.

Both stories are anonymous folktales from the collection edited by the Brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The first story (Dr Know-it-all) features top down, cognitive empathy; the second story (The Youth Who Went For to Learn Fear) features bottom up, affective empathy.

Along the way, the listener encounters spirited hijinks, the neurology of [not] experiencing fear, empathy training, rich empathy lessons, and how empathy gives us our humanity. Not to be missed!

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(c) Lou Agosta, PhD and the Chicago Empathy Project

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