Discussing Empathy: Differences between cognitive and affective empathy

With this episode, Choice is pleased to continue a semi-regular series of interviews with OAT-winning authors. The Outstanding Academic Titles(OATs for short) are an annual list of the best academic titles reviewed by Choice. The 2018 list is just out and available in our January 2019 issue and online at ChoiceReviews.org. In this series, Dr. Randolph Cornelius, professor of psychological science at Vassar College and longtime Choice reviewer, interviews Dr. Heidi Maibom, professor of philosophy at the University of Cincinnati, about empathy and her most recent edited work, The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Empathy. Their discussion ranges widely over the volume’s chapters, and brings together Dr. Cornelius’ psychological work with Dr. Maibom’s philosophical insights. They begin their conversation with perhaps the most foundational question in the study of empathy: what, precisely, is it? And from that base, they build a nuanced and informative description of empathy that incorporates insights from science, philosophy, environmentalism, and spirituality. Dr. Cornelius gets Dr. Maibom dig into the nuts and bolts of empathy in this episode. They discuss the differences between cognitive and affective empathy, whether we can be overcome by empathy, and whether empathy is a two-faced emotion.