There is a long tradition in philosophy and literary theory defending the view that engagement with literature promotes readers’ empathy. Until the last century, few of the empirical claims adduced in that tradition were investigated experimentally. Recent work in psychology and neuropsychology has now shed new light on the interplay of empathy and literature. This article surveys the experimental findings, addressing three central questions: What is it to read empathically? Does reading make us more empathic? What characteristics of literature, if any, affect readers’ empathy? While experimental studies have delivered no conclusive answers to these questions, it has exposed their psychological complexity and constructed a more nuanced picture of the diverse ways in which literature interacts with our empathic capacities.

中文翻译：

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同理心与文学

哲学和文学理论有一个悠久的传统，认为接触文学可以促进读者的同理心。直到上个世纪，该传统中提出的经验主张很少经过实验研究。心理学和神经心理学的最新研究为同理心与文学的相互作用提供了新的线索。本文调查了实验结果，解决了三个核心问题：什么是共情阅读？阅读能让我们更有同理心吗？文学的哪些特征（如果有的话）会影响读者的同理心？虽然实验研究没有对这些问题给出结论性的答案，但它暴露了它们的心理复杂性，并构建了文学与我们的共情能力相互作用的多种方式的更细致的图景。