Thomas Fuchs and Levels of Empathy

Abstract

The article deals with a critical overview of Fuchs’ work Levels of Empathy – Primary, Extended, and Reiterated Empathy (2017) which suggests that empathy is based on embodied interaction between individuals. Fuchs attempts to introduce a cohesive concept of empathy, which he divides into three levels: primary, extended and reiterated empathy. Our understanding of others is based on prereflective interbodily reciprocity, which expands our body and connects it to that of another. Although the theory is certainly interesting, it still presents some problems. Fuchs does not elaborate on his definition of empathy, but simply places it in interaction with others. The theory itself is focused on ‘two embodied entities in interaction’, omitting all other occurrences of empathy. Fuchs’ concept of levels of empathy, whose principal aim is to bridge the gap between us and others through a unified (interaction) theory, is also only partly successful.