Wow! eBook
The Feeling of Inequality: On Empathy, Empathy Gulfs, and the Political Psychology of Democracy
Author(s): Martin Hartmann (Author)
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
- Publication Date: March 24, 2023
- Language: English
- Print length: 302 pages
- ISBN-10: 0197500862
- ISBN-13: 9780197500866
Book Description
Reinterpreting David Hume’s and Adam Smith’s respective theories of sympathy, Hartmann sketches a relational theory of democracy that construes equality as a social relationship, placing particular emphasis on the emotions and attitudes that often accompany inequality such as contempt, envy, shame, esteem, pride, and admiration. Hartmann then localizes these ‘relative’ emotions in social and cultural practices, illustrating the ways in which these emotions result in concrete manifestations of inequality. By breaking down the foundations of the various empathy gulfs plaguing contemporary democratic societies, Hartmann paves the way for a more compassionate approach to thinking about inequality.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Try to imagine a work that combines moral and political psychology, political philosophy, history of philosophy (especially Hume and Adam Smith), and cognitive science and then mixes social theory and analytic philosophy with feminism and a light dose of literature. Even if you think you can, until you read Martin Hartmann’s The Feeling of Inequality, you can’t conceive of such intellectual alchemy. Hartmann’s erudition is always functional: his is a penetrating and lively study of conceptualizing living in a greatly unequal society-our own-nominally committed to equality. While the analysis is sober, every page is enlivened by a quiet dagger aimed at the reader’s intellectual and moral complacency. This is a major study in relational equality, and democratic theory.” — Eric Schliesser, Professor of Political Theory, University of Amsterdam
