Adopting the Perspectives of Others: Empathy and Shared Intentionality in Human Social Life

Project Description

In the last two decades, research has converged around the idea that our participation in social interactions is the foundation of human rationality. This research conceives of human rationality in terms of social-dialogical abilities of coordination within norm-governed social practices. Related work in the philosophical and scientific study of human sociality emphasizes human abilities to take on the cognitive, emotional, or affective stances of others, which makes it possible to form uniquely human plural “we” perspectives and corresponding modes of shared experience, cognition, and action. This project draws these themes together by focusing on the shared intentional, empathic, and rule-governed character of human life. We will use research in philosophical logic, the philosophies of language and mind, developmental and comparative psychology, and evolutionary anthropology as a basis for integrating and extending this interdisciplinary study of the social, empathic, and inter-perspectival character of human cognition.

Investigator

• Preston John Stovall, Ph.D.

Timeframe

• 2025–2027

Identification

• GAČR