Understanding, empathy and narrative
If there is a fundamental difference between understanding and explanation, what tools are there for fitting understandinginto nursing practice? In this session, we will discuss two ideas.
One idea is that we understand one another through empathy. Karl Jaspers thought that this was of fundamental importance. But what exactly is empathy? Is it something like fellow-feeling? And is that even possible?
The other idea - already hinited at - is that narrative or stories can provide a way to make sense of human lives. But how seriously should we take that idea? And what makes a narrative different from a scientific theory (that is, how can narratives provide understanding rather than explanation).
There is a further difficulty lurking here. If one of the key ideas about narratives is that they have a charactersitic way of making sense, does that not mean that we have to impose our views of what makes sense on others? Equally, what happens if we simply lack fellow-feeling?
Reading extract from:
Jaspers, K. ([1913] 1974) ‘Causal and “Meaningful” Connections between Life History and Psychosis’, trans. by J.Hoenig, in S.R.Hirsch and M.Shepherd. in Hirsch, S.R., and M. Shepherd, Themes and Variations in European Psychiatry, Bristol: Wright: 80-93