"I feel your pain"Fiction and the Evolution of the Human Mind

How do people understand each otheror think they do? How is it that a person can slip into the shoes of someone else, even though we may not know them at all? How can fiction (such as novels) be understood and bring the emotions of fictional beings to lifeas if they were like us and still be different? Is it perhaps this ability to slip into the shoes of someone else that makes man different even from most other apes? What abilities does one need to understand someone elseand who lacks them?

This class will turn students into researchers of a new and growing field that includes elements of literature, psychology, and cognitive science. Their task will be to a theory of what triggers and what blocks human empathy. By empathy it is meant the effect that one can 'slip into the shoes of someone else,' be it a real person or a fictional character, and seem to understand and feel their emotions.

The course will introduce students to several theories of empathy and mind reading. At the same time, the course wants to encourage students to develop their own theory of understanding others. They will have the option to closely examine a literary text (or a movie) to reach their conclusion on how the text (movie) aims to get the viewer involved. Students may also want to reach conclusions by reading a selection of recent scientific texts about the so-called mirror-neurons that seem to cause empathy. Students can also conduct experiments of their own or redo famous experiments, such as the "False Belief Task" that lead to the so-called "Theory of Mind" that will be discussed in class.

Breithaupt is a professor of the humanities and does not have a research lab. However, he will have guests in the class that will discuss their work in brain science.