Empathy, emotions and the ethics of love - with Susi Ferrarello

What role do emotions play in individual and societal wellbeing? How can we ensure that we are emotionally present in caregiving and in our professional lives? What is the difference between true and 'empty' empathy? And what can phenomenology, and philosophical ideas generally, contribute to the development of an ethic of love, or an ethic of care?These are some of the questions we explore in this episode, with Susi Ferrarello. Susi is an associate professor at California State University, East Bay. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from La Sapienza University in Rome, an MA in Human Rights and Political Science from the University of Bologna, and a PhD in Philosophy from the Sorbonne in Paris. Susi has held professorships at La Sapienza, the Florence University of the Arts, Lucerne University, and Loyola University in Chicago, and she has lectured widely in Europe and the United States.Susi’s areas of interest include phenomenology, moral psychology, practical ethics, the philosophical foundations of psychological praxis, and ancient philosophy. Susi is also a philosophical counsellor, with more than ten years’ experience of consulting in Italy, Switzerland and the United States.Susi's many books include The Phenomenology of Sex, Love and Intimacy, published in 2019; Human Emotions and the Origins of Bioethics and The Role of Bioethics in Emotional Problems, both from 2021; and The Ethics of Love: Emotional Dilemmas for a Relational Life, which came out in 2023. She has also edited or co-edited a number of books, including Empathy and Ethics in 2022, and The Routledge Handbook of Phenomenology of Mindfulness in 2023. The Phenomenology of Pregnancy and Early Motherhood: Ethical, Social, and Psychological Perspectives will be published in December 2024. Susi writes a regular blog, ‘Lying On The Philosopher’s Couch’, in Psychology Today magazine, and she is the host of the ‘Philosophy Gets Personal’ podcast. She recently launched No Bump, No Care?, an online pregnancy and motherhood support project.We explore the following topics in this episode:Susi's academic journey and formation (03:09)Susi's work as a philosophical counsellor (07:40)Emotions and bioethics (11:12)Emotions in professional life (17:58)Encouraging empathy in caregiving: the example of care for women who have experienced miscarriage (24:04)The gender bias in pain management (31:44)Intercorporeality and interaffectivity (36:10)Bioethics and everyday emotional problems (42:66)Ancient myths as resources for understanding contemporary relational dilemmas (46:40)Susi's reflections on personal emotional experience in her writing (50:50)Love, care and self-care (52:50)A phenomenological ethic of love (56:22)From kindness to tenderness (01:01:03)Susi's current work on pregnancy and perinatal loss (01:05:17)LinksSusi's Youtube channelSusi's counselling practiceSome of the thinkers and writers mentioned in the episodeAristotleEdmund HusserlMartin HeideggerVan Rensselaer PotterLou MarinoffTomie HahnNicole MiglioFor a transcript of this episode, follow this link to the Careful Thinking Substack.