Sarah Cooke
Sarah Cooke. “A More Finite Empathy: On Pain, Recognition of Distance, and Respect of Finitude.” A Priori, vol. 2, 2017, pp. 1–18.
This essay examines the limitations of the contemporary understanding and application of empathy as an attempt to ameliorate distance. Using Maggie Nelson and Simone Weil as interlocutors, I explore the ramifications of empathy, the recognition of difference within the context of individual experiences of pain, and ultimately the respect for finitude (of our own and of others) for which Nelson and Weil both argue.