Siri Hustvedt

For any discussion of empathy, the conceptual boundaries, its history in philosophy and science and its cultural context are crucial. In her lecture, Siri Hustvedt looks at the role of empathy in certain philosophers, the neurobiology of mirroring and the often ignored reality of pregnancy and its "intermediary organ", the placenta. And she asks: How should we integrate empathy into our social and political lives? How do we promote empathy? And how do we hinder it?

Siri Hustvedt, born in 1955, is one of the most important writers and essayists in the USA. Her best-known publications include What I Loved (2003), The Summer Without Men (2011) and her new collection of essays Mothers, Fathers and Perpetrators (2023). Her works are characterized by her lifelong exploration of the question of how we function and what holds us together as human beings.

Introduction: N.N.

Language: English

As part of the International Science Festival - Geist Heidelberg and the 13th Empathy Conference

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