Some epistemological observations on empathy

This intervention examines several critical issues in the paper by Gallese & Morelli (2025). It is argued that some of the questions raised by these authors, in line with phenomenological thought, have in fact long been present in the debate and have already received substantial responses. Special emphasis is placed on the epistemological dimension, recalling Jaspers’ view that scientific explanation must complement understanding. The limits of an embodied and pre-reflective approach to empathy are discussed, with attention to the methodological contradiction of a perspective that rejects external observation and the analytical decomposition of phenomena, while simultaneously relying on neurophysiological experimentation. A similar tension emerges in the proposal of an empathy grounded in the pure experience of interpersonal subjectivity yet expressed through a language that aims at being descriptive and therefore objectifying. Finally, the paper addresses the challenge of how such experiential dimensions may be transformed into therapeutic experience and empirically validated in this role.

Keywords: Phenomenology; Embodied empathy; Understanding; Explanation; Psychotherapy

Andrea Angelozzi, Interventi sull’articolo di Vittorio Gallese e Ugo Morelli “Fare sul serio con l’empatia in psicoanalisi e psicoterapia” (Psicoterapia e Scienze Umane, 2025, 59, 3: 463-494) Alcune osservazioni epistemologiche sull’empatia in "PSICOTERAPIA E SCIENZE UMANE" 4/2025, pp 689-698, DOI: 10.3280/PU2025-004007