Die Wurzeln des „Einfühlenden Verstehens“: Konzepte des Verstehens in den Geisteswissenschaften des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts

Abstract

The roots of “empathic understanding”. Concepts of “understanding” in the humanities of the 18th and 19th century. Rogers’ term empathic understanding raises the question whether it is a scientific approach – or at least a scientifically justified approach –, and moreover, whether it is a form of cognition at all. Therefore, this contribution shows why and in which way the subject and the term were formed (constituted) within the humanities of the 18th and 19th century and how cognitive and emotional aspects were combined. Once again it becomes obvious that Rogers assimilated insights of an older humanistic tradition. Because the relationship between therapist and client is not the relation of a human subject to an object but – similar to the interpretation in the cultural sciences – a relationship between subjects, naturalistic methods push the boundaries and older forms of gaining cognition keep their validity, forms which were reflected and cultivated in the humanities.