The Routledge handbook of philosophy of empathy / edited by Heidi Maibom.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction to philosophy of empathy / Heidi L. Maibom -- Part 1. Core issues. Cognitive Empathy / Shannon Spaulding -- Affective empathy / Heidi L. Maibom -- Phenomenology, empathy, and mindreading / Dan Zahavi -- The neuroscience of empathy / Christine Cong Guo -- Empathy and mirror neurons / Remy Debes -- The evolution of empathy / Armin W. Schulz -- Part 2. History of empathy. Empathy in the aesthetic tradition / Derek Matravers -- Empathy in the phenomenological tradition / James Jardine and Thomas Szanto -- Empathy in Hume and Smith / Imola Ilyes -- Empathy in twentieth-century psychology / Mark Davis -- Empathy, compassion, and "exchanging self and other" in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism / Emily McRae -- Part 3. Empathy and understanding. Empathy and understanding reasons / Karsten Stueber -- Empathy and knowing what it's like / Ian Ravenscroft -- Empathy and theories of direct perception / Shaun Gallagher -- Empathy and intersubjectivity / Josh May -- Empathy and imagination / Adam Morton -- Empathy and psychiatric illness / Matthew Ratcliffe -- Part 4. Empathy and morals. Empathy and altruism / Thomas Schramme -- Empathy and moral judgment / Antti Kaupinnen -- Empathy and moral motivation / Alison E. Denham -- Empathy and moral responsibility / David Shoemaker -- Empathy and legal responsibility / Ishtiyaque Haji -- Empathy and care ethics / Maurice Hamington -- Empathy and medical therapy / Per Nortvedt -- Part 5. Empathy in art and aesthetics. Empathy and painting / Noël Carroll -- Empathy in music / Jenefer Robinson -- Empathy in literature / Eileen John -- Empathy in film / Jane Stadler -- Imaginative resistance and empathy / Kathleen Stock -- Part 6. Empathy and individual differences. Empathy across cultures / Douglas Hollan -- Empathic accuracy / Vivian P. Ta and William Ickes -- Empathy and psychopathology / Jeanette Kennett --Gender and empathy / Robyn Bluhm

Empathy plays a central role in the history and contemporary study of ethics, interpersonal understanding, and the emotions, yet until now has been relatively underexplored. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Empathy is a reference source to the key topics, problems and debates in this exciting field and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising over thirty chapters by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into six parts: Core issues; History of empathy; Empathy and understanding; Empathy and morals; Empathy in art and aesthetics; Empathy and individual differences. Within these sections central topics and problems are examined, including: empathy and imagination; neuroscience; David Hume and Adam Smith; understanding; evolution; altruism; moral responsibility; art, aesthetics, and literature; gender; empathy and related disciplines such as anthropology.