Empathic Ability In The Context Of The Subjectivity Problem
The article discusses the connection between the phenomena of empathy and subjectivity from the standpoint of cultural and historical psychology (L.S. Vygotsky) and the reflexive-activity approach (V.K. Zaretsky and others). We conduct a methodological analysis of the sources of empathic abilities and subjectivity (sense of agency, intentionality) in anthropogenesis (M. Tomasello), investigate the common roots of these phenomena in the development of dialogical thinking in ontogenesis (C. Fernyhough), and postulate a hypothesis on the interrelation of their higher, mature forms. We present the results of the empirical study of empathy and subjectivity in university and college students (N=154). In the group of university students, the relationship between empathic ability, perspective taking, emotional support and position of agency in learning is revealed. College students have a lower level of empathic abilities and a greater degree of objective (passive) and negative positions in the learning activity, their position of agency is weakly connected to perspective taking and shows a significant negative correlation with personal distress. Conclusion: students with a more pronounced subjective position (stronger sense of agency) have a stronger empathic ability, which confirms the initial hypothesis.