Community, Society and State. Intersubjective relationships of empathy and solidarity in Edith Stein

Abstract

From Edith Stein's analysis of empathy and solidarity we arrive at the need to inquire phenomenologically into the essential constitution of the structures of the community, society and the State. From this perspective, this work intends to show that the object of Edith Stein's inquiry is substantially the relationship between the individual-human association. In her meticulous analysis, not conditioned by any presupposition, the subject is taken in its singularity. The human being cannot live in isolation, but is considered as an open microcosm in whose openness empathy and solidarity are fundamental traits for the research of our philosopher, who considers neither the particular nor the totality as absolutes, but appeals to the importance of the individual in a broader context.