Anthropology and medicine

Empathy, Experience and Knowledge

Bibliographic Data

ID7096366
AuthorsSylvie Fainzang (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author)
Year2009
Publication date2009-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueAnthropology and medicine (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherJ.-M. Tremblay (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1522/030156019
OpenAlexW2224294607
ISBN9781412369930
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited4

To summaryEven though the issue of empathy is widely debated in disciplines such as ethnology and medicine, ethnologists' relationship with their informants cannot be likened to that of doctors and their patients.Likewise, the empathic dimension, considered to characterize the relationship in both cases, is not the same.In this article examples drawn from various case studies are used in a cross-cutting analysis of the nature and role of empathy in the contexts of medical and ethnological relationships.The part that empathy plays in the production of knowledge, in both types of relationship, is evaluated.What are the implications of empathy as regards the medical doctor's work and that of the ethnologist, and what is its heuristic value?In other words, what link is there between empathy and the knowledge production process?I show that even though empathy may be useful in both types of situation, ethnologists can derive a benefit from it only if, unlike doctors, they are able to control it and to distance themselves from it

Sociology · African Studies and Ethnography · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Anthropology · History

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