Robert Vischer
Encyclopedia
Robert Vischer was a German philosopher who invented the term Einfühlung (esthetic sympathy
Sympathy
Sympathy is a social affinity in which one person stands with another person, closely understanding his or her feelings. Also known as empathic concern, it is the feeling of compassion or concern for another, the wish to see them better off or happier. Although empathy and sympathy are often used...

, later translated in English as empathy
Empathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...

), which was to be promoted by Theodor Lipps
Theodor Lipps
Theodor Lipps was a German philosopher. Lipps was one of the most influential German university professors of his time, attracting many students from other countries. Lipps was very concerned with conceptions of art and the aesthetic, focusing much of his philosophy around such issues...

, Freud's admired philosopher.

Vischer’s use of Einfühlung

Vischer’s use of Einfühlung (“in-feeling” or “feeling-into”) in his doctoral thesis (On the Optical Sense of Form: A Contribution to Aesthetics--1873) was the first mention of this word in this form in print. His more-famous father, Friedrich Theodor Vischer
Friedrich Theodor Vischer
Friedrich Theodor Vischer was a German writer on the philosophy of art.Born at Ludwigsburg as the son of a clergyman, Vischer was educated at Tübinger Stift, and began life in his father's profession...

, had used the term Einfühlen in explorations of Idealism relative to architectural form, and related concepts were certainly already in the air. Indeed, the phrase "sich einfühlen" was used by Herder in the 18th century. Nonetheless, Robert Vischer’s exploration was the first significant discussion of the concept of Einfühlung under that precise name.
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