Samantha Mitschke
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Compassion is present in everyday life and discussions; references to the emotion caused by the perception of another person’s suffering and misfortune appear in the mass media, in political campaigns and in a wide range of academic studies. This volume aims to examine the nature of compassion and discuss its role for aesthetic experience by exploring a number of questions related to this emotion. These questions include: What is the role of compassion in the Western public discourse? How does compassion differ from other emotions, such as empathy, sympathy or pity? In what ways did Ancient Greeks and Romans understand the concept of compassion? What is the place of compassion in illness narratives and medical care? How is empathy and compassion involved in our engagement with works of art? Can we appeal to the arts for the development of compassion? The contributors to this volume draw on a variety of disciplines in order to give an overview of the emotion of compassion and its role for aesthetic experience.