| Title | Art, the code of sympathy - Seo Seong-rok (Professor of Art at Andong … | |
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Art, the code of sympathy
Seo Seong-rok (Professor of Art at Andong National University) Ⅰ.“Homo self-centricus” is running wild in us, but we must admit that “homo empathicus” is part of us as well. This opinion insists that there is another frame right next to our egoism. Among the English words derived from “pathos” referring to “emotion,” there are terms such as apathy, sympathy and antipathy. In particular, “sympathy” is characterized by the quality of looking at people or objects not from outside but from inside and conjoining one’s emotion to them. This is important because we intend to communicate based on what we understand in the relationship with others, especially when we try to see, feel and understand the world from the perspective of others. We can see this based on “a true understanding of conditions and state of mind different from mine” and not on projection of ego by general communication or emotional immersion.
In the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, aestheticians like Theodor Lipps used the term “Einfühlung” meaning “empathy” as a concept to figure out “internal and subjective experience of others different from oneself.” Etymologically, the English word “empathy” comes from German “Einfühlung” and this literally means “feeling-into.” This term became popular when Lipps used it as an aesthetic concept referring to the capacity of reacting to them out of emotions instead of rationality. 1) On the other hand, Wilhelm Berson borrowed this aesthetic term to explain mental process. For him, empathy means understanding of others from their position how they feel and think. This empathy also influenced art interpretation. The fact that N. Hartmann considered empathy indispensable in artistic creation can be explained from this context.
“Empathy is one of the most important concepts in aesthetics. How can a painter or a playwright express anything without projecting empathy onto the features of the figure? Here, any understanding that is analytical and psychological is insufficient.” 2)
Even without argument of Hartmann, empathy plays a crucial role in artistic works. What would happen if a painter did not have any feeling towards the object of painting? Then there would be no relation between the painter and the object and the object would be nothing but a mere model and motif. If this happens, it is very probable that those who appreciate the artist’s work should not be impressed in front of a work void of subtle touches of soul with the object. The viewers would not be very attracted to the work without depth and sympathy. This shows how important empathy is when it comes to communion between the artist and the object.
According to Lipps, empathy can be divided into “positive empathy (Die positive Einfühlung) and “negative empathy (Die negative Einfühlung).” Free and joyful emotions occur from “positive empathy” while unnatural and unpleasant emotions form when “negative empathy” works. His explains two concepts, “The form is beautiful as long as positive empathy is established. Beauty of this form is to live my life of concept in the form in a free and complete manner. On the other hand, when this work is not possible for me, in other words, when I am restricted or suppressed or feel forced in terms of form or contemplation, the form is ugly.” 3) Empathy of Lipps mainly focuses on “personification of object.” In other words, instead of how my feeling works in the relationship with the object, it disregards understanding of what object is, which antecedents it has and how the relationship is with me. Without doubt, it is unavoidable to add one’s feeling since art is the product of subjectivity. However, it is not correct to say that it is always true. It is because we can fail to have a true understanding of the other if art is only immersed in subjectivity. In this case, art can easily become a monologue regardless of the existence of its object.
Since Romanticism, art has been considered a gift of Muse and an inviolable holy ground of geniuses. The result came back as a boomerang moving away from people by degrees. Jacques Ellul even mentions that art is “The Empire of Non-sense” since artists robbed viewers of joy for being only interested in reality exceeding the bounds. 4) Thus, artists slowly lose the skill of getting along with others. This severance of art from people must be the most evident example of crisis of art. They are alienated from others and even from themselves.
According to Martin Buber, a philosopher who paid attention to this problem, an encounter of two people is no different from “an encounter between two living beings and six ghostly appearances.” While two characters meet, six ghosts can join them… What could this possibly mean? Firstly, it is about two people who recognize their embodiment of each one’s inner side, secondly, it is about two people embraced as embodiment of these two, thirdly, two people reflected before their eyes. This makes six people all together.5) We have imagination of ourselves and images of others we create. The idea of which humans are selfish by nature has formed the dominant frame of treatise of human nature. For this reason, there has been a growing demand of changing this frame of thinking. It is necessary that we should accept and internalize other frames.
Mikhail Bakhtin states as follows regarding creating a relationship with the other and mutual understanding. “Life by its very nature is dialogic. To live means to participate in dialogue, to ask questions, to heed, to respond, to agree, and so forth. In this dialogue a person participates wholly and throughout his whole life: with his eyes, lips, hands, soul, spirit, with his whole body and deeds. He invests his entire self in discourse, and this discourse enters into the dialogic fabric of human life, into the world symposium.” 6)
According to Leonard Sweet, “relationship is the soul of the universe.” However, due to this twisted relationship, this soul fell ill unfortunately. As Bakhtin argues, having a dialogue is based upon the premise that humans live together with other. I exist in the form of other or other exists in my form. In other words, the human figure exists in the form of existence of other and me. For this reason, as long as humans remain as figures, it is impossible to have complete reification of human figures. Actively thinking, I exist as an ego of other and I can clearly confirm my existence through the encounter with other.
There is no such a world without other and we are destined to live in the incessant contact with other, which is unescapable. According to Bakhtin, “to exist is to exchange.” To exist means to be for others and for oneself through others. No one has this domain of insisting sovereignty of interiority. It is completely nearby all the time and it looks into oneself, looks at eyes of the other and from the eyes of other.” 7) Those who insist substantive (ontic) experience have their knowledge and rationality “a priori” and the spirit of inquiry does not admit the mere idea of which this can be sorted from ether and saved in the consciousness. On the contrary, they claim that mental life is unexceptionally relational. They believe that the true concept of mental theory consists in the fact that I know that I know and the counter part knows and ou know and mental life is realized based on this concept. 8)
As Bakhtin says, we can see ourselves only through the relationship with the other. We hardly have this opportunity of looking at ourselves in our lifetime. Looking into a mirror is looking at one’s appearance and not the true aspect of oneself. The authentic moment of understanding oneself can be possible only through an encounter with the other. The counterpart is the only being who is able to figure out who I am with precision. I can be have enlightenment of how I will be not only through appearance but also through life of the other.
Ⅱ.
What I am trying to say is a new establishment of view of the other, in a word, this can be summarized as “intensification of empathy.” If the relationship between other and me is something inseparable and fateful, moreover, if my identity is recognized through the relationship with other, it will be central to build capacity of empathy. What makes it possible to create a close relationship beyond the subjective empathy we have already seen is the very capacity of empathy. Beyond the ability of knowing what other feels and feeling it myself, this includes even the process of delivering and communicating my feeling regarding psychological experience of other. 9)
Since Descartes thought that a human is a machine with a body, he believed that we send a sensory signal to mind to decode and judge the message by using rational thinking. He regards thinking as a separate area. Even though it is physically connected to the world, he thinks that it works independently from the body. He tried to totally what is considered uncertain among what body experiences. What he meant was uncertain feeling and emotions. He made humans as beings measuring based on rationality without any feeling by eliminating “human equation.” Rifkin compared this existence with Dr. Spock appearing in an American drama “Star Trek.” Dr. Spock looks like an earthman but he is unable to express human feelings or emotions. Antonio Damasio in his book “Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain” mentions: “Perhaps the most indispensable thing we can do as human beings, every day of our lives, is remind ourselves and others of our complexity, fragility, finiteness, and uniqueness.” 10) I wonder if it could be ever possible to think of human beings separating them from body. If we repress physicality of our existence and sort only emotions binding us in a true physical way, we will lose the capacity of empathy with other, in other words, the authentic essence to make us become social beings
Artworks are important in our lives because they are the very windows to our understanding of complexity, fragility, finiteness, and uniqueness. Artworks make it possible to reflect on different lives of numerous people and approach their glory, sadness, joy, frustration, hope and worries. Through their lives, we can not only understand ourselves but also feel a sort of sense of kinship through the same human feelings and emotions as united human beings.
Artists recognized importance of this empathy long time ago. Georges Rouault describes himself as a laborer in his work “Laborer” but delivers warm affection to the model as the same human. Moreover, “Death of an old man” of Jozef Israëls portrays compassion and sadness toward a man on the verge of death through his uneasiness. The same way, “The potato eaters” of Van Gogh and “The sower” of Jean-François Millet also manifest the importance of this empathy. Feeling empathy means acknowledging existence of others and their lives. For this reason, the moment we empathize must be the most vivid experience full of thrills among many other experiences we have in life.
Looking at works of Park Soo-keun, a painter for ordinary people, we can confirm the grandeur of empathy. The act of “accompanying” the weak and poor In the past when all were suffering from poverty can be observed as consistent features in his works. 11) “A tree and women,” one of his representative work, shows people who do not lose hope despite the harsh environment. With this, we can guess the artist’s perspective of figure painting. By the time he was painting this work, when it comes to figure painting, its main theme was focused on pretty women. However, considering that most of ordinary people of the time were suffering from poverty, hunger and starvation, we can deduce that this kind of beautification is not very real. However, figures appearing in his painting suggest that they stay at the extension line of the concrete reality and not any abstract concept. Park Soo-keun opted for “living together with” his contemporaries instead of escaping to concepts. Instead of being obsessed with his hard situation and buried in it, he showed outstanding empathy to understand others.
Empathy encourages us to ask a question about the position where we can set ourselves in the relationship with others. IA society that is only based on rational and cold principles can overlook that emotional communion of community has this potential uniting us. Tolstoy, a Russian writer once mentioned, “If one does not know that one is living with others, one does not even know if one is alive.” This teaches us how important empathy is.
Extraordinary empathy of Park Soo-keun is undoubtedly seen in his works such as “An old man and his grandson (1964),” “Under the tree (1964),” “Old man (1961),” “People in the market” (1950).” “Scenes from the street (1962)” and “Old men and girls (1959).” The other is a being who brings something unfamiliar and uncomfortable to this familiar and comfortable world where things go around me. The other can change my regular and comfortable life into an irregular and uncomfortable one maybe because the other has a rule different from my life. 12) If Park Soo-keun had considered the other only as an uncomfortable being, would he have paid attention to such haggard old people? What makes us feel unfamiliar in his works must be our view of the other with different rules of life. This means that he did not keep distance from others who were taking a different path of life.
The relationship that deepens looks at further down. Artist Park Soo-keun had no other option than to stand by their side, listen to their stories and accept the situation as it was. He seems to say this way. “I am not able to get rid of your pain. I cannot give you any right answer. However, I can promise only this. I will never leave you alone and will be with you until the end.” 13) Thus, this empathy makes it possible to share pain and avoid no one from being ignored.
Ⅲ.
While Park Soo-keun reflected his philosophy through his painting, this empathic insight can visit due to some unexpected event. This is the case of Harriet Beecher Stowe. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” known as one of the most influential and widely read books so far delivers the miserable bloody scenes of historical reality and violence of slavery. When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe, he first said, “Now I see that it is you, small woman, who wrote this book, which led to outbreak of this battle.” Nevertheless, this book with strong destructive power was written by a very personal event, in other words, when her most loved child, her sixth one named Charlie died of cholera sweeping through Cincinnati. Her heart fell in deep grief. Charlie’s death led her to be an abolitionist of slavery and made her write this book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” She stated, “As a woman and a mother, my heart was broken and torn to pieces. That is why I started writing.” Beecher went through piercing pain out of his son’s death until reaching empathic insight. 14) Thus, empathy binds people together and creates a deeper sense of bond.
From the perspective of Mikhail Bakhtin, the other is someone who completes myself. I am not able to look at myself alone. In sum, I can finally figure out how my existence is by looking at others. For this reason, a close relationship is created with the other not as a mere object but an inseparable being. Park Soo-keun had highly keen awareness of the other. He did not look at the other as an object but as a human being to share sorrow and sadness. Maybe he wanted to receive consolation of his ego and broken heart from them by being with them. To understand the other, we are required to comprehend how they feel. Daniel. J. Siegel calls this perception ability “mindsight.” According to him, “empathy is a mechanism forming the base of social intelligence and emotional intelligence allowing us to look into minds of others and ourselves.” 15) Since those who understand others are the ones who understand others first, it is probable that they are the ones who are understood first.
The fact that many people became indignant about controversy of “high-handed attitude” or the so-called “Gapjil,” the talk of the town can be explained from lack of minimum consideration of the other as a human being. What difference does it make between a gold coin wrapped in a white paper and another one wrapped in a black paper? Judging a person with his / her social rank or appearance is like not knowing that there is a gold coin inside the paper, regardless of the color of the paper. However, this is possible at least when one has awareness of the other. If this is the case of a serious illness called “anosognosia,” the problem is quite grave though.
At this point, “philosophy of encounter” argued by Martin Buber attracts out attention by the way. Martin Buber intended to figure out position and essence of human beings from the thesis of “every true life is encounter.” He finds that true human existence is not in the isolated existence but is revealed through forming the relationship. In other words, for Buber, a human is recognized as a being who forms the relationship of the existence. For this reason, he expresses, “the basic fact of human existence is that a human is with another human.”
According to Buber, modern-day people are surrounded by non-dialogic “I-it relation” and not by dialogic “I-Thou” relation. The “I-it” relation is often observed around us, and the other is considered a tool and not a human or character. In other words, it is detected by how much it has the usefulness as a tool. This relationship showing the harsh reality suggests that a human is evaluated by instrumental usefulness and not as the person’s humanistic features in the modern-day society.
A true relation is the “I-Thou” relation, according to Buber. “I” and “Thou” in the “I-Thou” relation carries out relationship with wholeness of human by paying attention to each other with wholeness. This relation is not unilateral but bilateral. This is giving oneself to the other in the altruistic manner or sees realization of one’s life within the range of giving. However, it is impossible to expect that this relation can continue forever among humans. This can be constantly renewed and continued depending on one’s decision. In all relations realized by “Thou,” we can meet “the eternal Thou.” Buber’s philosophy of encounter is powerful as an alternative of overcoming human alienation phenomenon, offering food for thought to us in terms of co-living with the other.
1) Roman Krznaric, Empathy, A Handbook for Revolution, translated by Kim Byeong-hwa, Abiility of empathy, The Quest, 2013, p. 51 2) N. Hartmann, Aesthetics, Translated by Jeon Won-bae, Eulyoo Publishers, p. 285 3) Cho, Yo-han, Art philosophy, Art culture, 2003, p. 47. 4) Jacques Ellul, L'empire du non-sens, Translated by Ha Tae-hwan, Daejanggan, 2013 5) Joachim Bauer, Warum Ich Fuhle was Fuhlst, Translated by Lee Mi-ok, Psychology of empathy,E Eco Livre, 2006, p..89 6) Mikhail Bakhtin, Esetika slove Tvorchestra, Translated by Park Jong-seo & Kim Hi-suk, Aesthetics of words, Gil, 2006, p. 454 7) Jeremy Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization, p. 185 8) Jeremy Rifkin, The Empathic Civilization, p. 186 9) David Howe, Empathy, Translated by Lee Jin-gyeong, Power of empathy, Jisikeuisup (Forest of knowledge), 2013, p. 31 10) Antonio Damasio, Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, New York, Quill, 2000, p.252 11) The following text is an abbreviation of part of my manuscript entitled “Park Soo-keun, Art with descending nature” (Booklet in celebration of the 100th anniversary of birth of artist Park Soo-keun ‘Observing painting of Park Soo-keun again’), Yeseowon, 2014, p. 41-76 12) Kang Shin-ju, Philosophy meets life, Ihaksa, 2006, p. 279 13) Henri J. M. Nouwn, A Spirituality of Caregiving, Translated by Yoon Jong-seok, A Spirituality of Caregiving, Duranno Seowon, 2014, p. 31 14) Roman Krznaric, Empathy, A Handbook for Revolution, p.112-115 15) David Howe, Empathy, p. 33, requoted
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