GL – Building a culture of empathy

Edwin Rutsch, the founder and head of the Center for Building a Culture of Empathy, has worked to promote empathy for the past 20 years and to compile a database of scholarly works on the issue. We discuss his journey, his inspiration, and how crucial empathy is in daily life.

Empathy is a talent that a psycho-analyst needs in order to communicate with and counsel patients effectively. The study of the psycho-dynamic obstacles to empathetic engagement that may originate from the analyst, the patient and the greater culture is the main goal of ‘A Rumor of Empathy’.

A Rumor of Empathy encourages people to cultivate empathy through intersubjectivity. Empathic understanding and interpretation are achieved through intersubjectivity, vicarious experience, receptivity, and empathetic understanding and interpretation.