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Author Bio

Lou Agosta, PhD, is a professor of medical education at Ross Medical University, teaching and practicing empathy lessons at Saint Anthony Hospital (Chicago). Lou is the author of three academic, peer-reviewed books on empathy including A Rumor of Empathy (Routledge 2015) and a popular, best selling book Empathy Lessons (2018). Lou Agosta has published and presented widely on empathy and topics relating to human understanding, interpretation, and transforming human suffering. His commitment is to expanding empathy in the individual and the community.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7826-1417

Keywords

empathy, rhetorical empathy, ontology

Abstract

This article aspires to elaborate the intersection of empathy and rhetoric with particular reference to empathic responsiveness. The argument regarding rhetorical empathy in the context of ontology proceeds through three phases. First, empathy is distinguished ontologically from a psychological mechanism. Second, the different aspects of empathy are exemplified. What brings forth empathy and makes it present? Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology is usefully appropriated for an ontological account of empathy. The elaboration of the intersection of empathy and rhetoric goes beyond Heidegger; and the argument is made that empathy is incomplete without an empathic response. This empathic response is the opening in which rhetorical empathy comes forth. “Empathic response” is synonymous with “rhetorical empathy.” A rigorous and critical empathy knows that it can be wrong. Finally, diverse examples of rhetorical empathy are provided.

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