The purpose of the following article is to provide an account for some recent developments in phenomenological psychological interviewing as it relates to the phenomenological approach to empathy training. The developments consist mostly of theoretical and methodological clarifications. Drawing mainly from the work of Edith Stein and Alfred Schutz, the interpersonal context is disclosed as a we-relation in which vivid presence allows for a direct, reciprocal, second-person access to meanings. The interviewer’s second-person access within the empathic attitude is discussed based on its relevancy to the context of the interpersonal situation. As such, a specific approach toward applied phenomenology is elucidated as it relates to the human sciences, as in specific situations in which inquiry takes place within an interpersonal situation, for example, qualitative research interviewing and professional clinical encounters. 

Mindfulness in contemporary psychology is associated with a form of meditation facilitated by a professional to be carried out by the client in first-person, with the purpose toward self-healing. Lately, there has been a development within psychology toward the so-called social mindfulness (SoMi), which is a construct measuring prosocial behavior, operationally defined as to provide a stranger with a choice. As such it is analogous with the notion of unselfishness found in the original ideas of Buddha's teachings but forced into the region of a natural scientific psychology. Although this chapter remains within the Western interpretation of SoMi, the purpose is to disclose an experiential gap present in the recent trend in psychology toward the idea of SoMi. It is suggested that an applied phenomenological analysis of empathy, within the context of the we-relation, can provide for a description of such an experiential gap, and as such provide for a more meaningful sense of how SoMi as an unselfish act can be achieved. Empathy is here described as following the meanings within the expression of the other within the interpersonal context of a we-relation. The conclusion is reached that empathy as interpersonal understanding is a priori for a SoMi. From the perspective of applied phenomenology, suggestions are made that an empathic attitude can be pedagogically facilitated by utilizing a phenomenological approach to empathy training. 

The phenomenology of bioethics is approached here in relation to the lived experience as it relates to the everyday lifeworld of persons suffering from mental illness. Taking a road less traveled, the purpose here is to elucidate ethical issues relating to sociality, using findings from qualitative phenomenological psychological research. Qualitative studies of schizophrenia and postpartum depression serve as examples. Layered throughout is the applied phenomenological argument pointing to the importance of returning to mundane intersubjectivity and the reversibility between mental illness, the existential context of suffering, and sociality.

This book represents a unique indispensable reflection on the interconnection between empathy and ethics. To what extent is it right to be empathetic? Can empathy be unethical? Or is there an ethical obligation to be empathetic? Do we educate our citizens and train our professionals to use the right form of empathy?

Phenomenological ethics is a relatively new approach to ethics whose emphasis is put on the description of the lived-experience and the ethical phenomenon. The essays offer phenomenological descriptions of the thorny problem pertaining to the interconnection of empathy and ethics essential for professionals and scholars of different fields, such as philosophy, psychiatry, health science, psychology, and sociology.

Contributors: Michael Agostinelli Jr., Elodie Boublil, Francesca Brencio, Manuel Camassa, Scott D. Churchill, Nicolas de Warren, Craig Derksen, John J. Drummond, Íngrid Vendrell Ferran, Jannik M. Hansen, Simon Høffding, Joel Krueger, Carlos Lobo, Esteban Marín-Ávila, Alexander Montes, Dermot Moran, Henning Nörenberg, Tone Roald, Eva Schwarz, Andrea Staiti, Joona Taipale, Stefano Vincini, Maren Wehrle, Dan Zahavi

This article presents the tradition of phenomenologically founded psychological research that was originally initiated by Amedeo Giorgi. This data analysis method is inseparable from the broader project of establishing an autonomous phenomenologically based human scientific psychology. After recounting the history of the method from the 1960's to the present, we explain the rationale for why we view data collection as a process that should be adaptable to the unique mode of appearance of each particular phenomenon being researched. The substance of the article is then devoted to a detailed outline of the method's whole-part-whole procedure of data analysis. We then offer a sample analysis of a brief description of an ordinary daydream. This is an anxiety daydream in response to the recent Covid-19 pandemic. We present this daydream analysis in full to show the concrete hands-on 5 step process through which the researcher explicated the participants' expressions from the particular to the general. From this brief sample analysis, the researcher offers a first-person reflection on the data analysis process to offer the reader an introduction to the diacritical nature of phenomenological psychological elucidation.