Difficult Empathy and Rhetorical Encounters

Difficult Empathy takes up the question of empathy as fundamentally a rhetorical concern, focusing on the ways we encounter and understand one another in what we read and write, hear and say. The book centres around the argument that empathy as a rhetorical event occurs not simply in the minds of individuals but as a product of the rhetorical situations, practices, cultures, and values in which we engage. Rather than identifying empathy as a cure-all, or jettisoning the concept altogether, the author acknowledges empathy's potential as well as its limitations by focusing on what makes empathy a hard and ultimately worthwhile practice. This nuanced and original study will interest scholars working at the intersection of rhetoric and composition with empathy, as well as those studying empathy in fields such as critical and cultural theory, politics, media analysis, social psychology, and the cognitive humanities.

List of contents

1. Introduction: Why Now Empathy?  2. Easy Empathy  3. Difficult Empathy  4. The Social Conditions of Empathy  5. Empathy with the Enemy  6. Critical Empathy  7. Conclusion

About the author

Eric Leake is Associate Professor in the Department of English at Texas State University, where he is Director of the Master’s Program in Rhetoric and Composition.

Summary

Difficult Empathy takes up the question of empathy as fundamentally a rhetorical concern, focusing on the ways we encounter and understand one another in what we read and write, hear and say.

Product details

• Authors: Eric Leake, Eric (Texas State University Leake
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 04.08.2023
• EAN: 9781032321714
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3232171-4
• No. of pages: 156
• Series: Routledge Studies in Rhetoric and Communication
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; Media Studies, PHILOSOPHY / General, Linguistics, LITERARY CRITICISM / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, Philosophy, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Communication Studies, Communication Studies, Literature: history & criticism, Literature: history and criticism