Walter Benjamin's concept of empathy

The concept of empathy appears in numerous texts by Walter Benjamin, though little attention has been paid to it in existing scholarship. This article not only examines the reasons for Benjamin's critique of empathy, but also explores an alternative understanding of empathy that can be found in his texts. Benjamin criticizes the use of empathy mainly due to its subjectivistic character, but it can be read diffferently, in relation to the f & ijlig;igure of the fl & auml;neur in his works. While Benjamin sees empathy leading to the abstraction of objects, thus conf & ijlig;irming and reproducing the existing relationships between the self and object, his view of 'alternative' empathy sees objects playing a decisive role. This empathy with circumstances, that follows the interaction between subjects and objects, proves to have a potential that can change the relationship between the two and, beyond them, society.