Research project funded by Koneen säätiö, working time 2018-2020
Critical perspectives on empathy in medicine: the rise of cognitive science and the loss
of narrative medicine
The aim in the proposed research is to study the current
increase in writings on empathy in health care. More precisely, the aim is to investigate
whether and how certain philosophical conceptions of interpersonal
understanding influence how empathy is conceived of in medical ethics. The
purpose is also to consider whether this philosophical influence reflects
certain economic and societal changes. The research will focus on the following
three questions:
1. Can our difficulties in understanding another person’s serious illness be
overcome by the use of a cognitive method of imagination?
2. Does the increase in writings on empathy in medicine reflect an interest in
patient narratives? Or, does today’s research on empathy, on the contrary,
reflect a decreasing interest in patient narratives?
3. Does the increasing pressure for cost efficiency in health care make
quantifiable and generalizable research on empathy appealing? Is this also one
reason why cognitive conceptions of empathy have become popular in health care?
Today writings on empathy in medical ethics have increased enormously. This
gives the impression that there is a growing moral awareness of the importance
of attending to the patient’s perspective. The aim of the research is to
investigate and question this impression of a growing moral awareness towards
patients. It will be suggested that today's writings on empathy may in fact
lead to a decreasing attention towards individual patients.