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Scheler, Max

Scheler’s work is proof that phenomenology does not need to be practiced as a rigorous method in the sense of Husserl. Yet, he carefully and brilliantly explores phenomenological distinctions by means of the “method” of the phenomenological attitude and reflections for direct insights. Scheler’s intent is to show that the ethical is already contained in the shared feelings we experience with others. For him ethics is already deeply embedded in our living with others and not just something added. The phenomenological challenge is to determine the essence of the shared feeling of sympathy or fellow-feeling (Mitgefühl) by distinguishing it from other feelings.

In his initial examination of the phenomenon of fellow-feeling, Scheler makes distinctions among four kinds of relationships: (1) immediate community of feeling, e.g., of one and the same sorrow, “with someone”; (2) fellow-feeling “about something,” rejoicing in his joy and commiseration with his sorrow; (3) mere emotional infection; and (4) true emotional identification.

 

Selected Readings:
Scheler, M. (1970). The Nature of Sympathy. Hamden, CT: Archon Books.
Scheler, M. (1972). Ressentiment. New York: Schocken Books.
Scheler, M. (1973). Formalism in Ethics and Non-Formal Ethics of Values. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

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