Abstract

The present study explores the evolution of empathy in philosophy and professional practice of psychotherapy, counselling and social work, which are by extension hermeneutics applied to interpersonal relationships. The crucial part of this evolution is the concept of as if, the distinction between you and me in the experience of empathy. A contemporary understanding of as if requires that we differentiate empathy from empathetic identification, projection, and sympathy. In Greek philosophy these distinctions are not perceived, and they remain largely unrecognized in contemporary researches in the fields of neuro-linguistic programming , psychology, and philosophy. The as if, however, is clearly present in both Carl Rogers’ client-centred psychotherapy, which subsequently evolved into person-centred psychotherapy, and the phenomenology of empathy as elaborated by Edith Stein. It is also important to establish a more precise understanding of here and now in relationship and dialogue with the other who provides us with the experience with which we empathize. With this enhanced understanding in psychotherapy, counselling and social work, we take leave of the comfortable episteme of knowledge and we enter the fluid and complex episteme of communication