A conflict of theories – An assessment of the early history of empathy

The concept of empathy has been well discussed within both philosophical and psychological circles, yet any form of coherent conceptualization appears to be lacking. In an attempt to ho-listically understand this issue, a thorough review of empathy’s history was undertaken. This paper considers and summarizes the early-modern and modern history of empathy, beginning with its early modern introduction into the behavioral sciences through David Hume’s and Adam Smith’s concept of sympathy.Parallel to this, in Germany, a discourse around the appreciation of art gave rise to the concept of „Einfühlung", which derived from the works of Georg Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Frie-drich Nietzsche and Friedrich Vischer. Following this, Einfühlung was then expanded to in-terpersonal understanding by Theodor Lipps.Ultimately, in a coalescence of Einfühlung and sympathy, Einfühlung would be translated as empathy by Edward Titchener, with empathy eventually overtaking sympathy within the realm of academic psychology. However, Titchener's translation was imprecise, and the con-cept became so flexible that any theorist could mold it to fit their own respective school of thought.Therefore, during the following rise of empathy in psychology, various theorists were able to shape the definition of empathy into a concept that fit their field of study, resulting in the fragmented and often contradictory state we observe today.