Empathy and the Historical Understanding of the Human Past… and Present

A Roundtable discussion with Thomas Kohut, Claire York, Michael Innes 

The International Political Psychology group of the Institute for Conflict Cooperation and Security (ICCS) invites you to a book presentation/discussion.

Dr. Thomas Kohut will present his book 'Empathy and the Historical Understanding of the Human Past'. The author seeks to raise the consciousness of historians about empathy, by introducing them to the history of the concept and to its status in fields outside of history. Thomas A. Kohut distinguishes between the external and the empathic observational position, the position of the historical subject. He argues that historians need to be aware of their observational position, of when they are empathizing and when they are not. Indeed, Kohut advocates for the deliberate, self-reflective use of empathy as a legitimate and important mode of historical inquiry.

Dr. Claire York and Dr. Michael Innes will provide discussant comments and Dr. Tereza Capelos will chair the Roundtable.

This is a zoom seminar event which requires free registration