Läsa sig empatisk - läsning av skönlitteratur för utvecklande av den empatiska förmågan

Within the Swedish school and the public library communities it is generally held as a truth that reading of fiction develops the empathic ability of the reader. This opinion is also expressed in political guiding documents for the school system and cultural sector. This paper's main hypothesis is that there is no assembled theoretic ground for the statement that reading of fiction develops the empathic ability. The investigation consists of two parts, the first being theoretical and the second empirical. Definitions of what empathy and reading is, are reviewed in the first part. An analysis of whether and how reading of fiction can develop the empathic ability of the reader follows. Theoretical arguments are borrowed from social psychology, linguistics, sociology of literature, pedagogy, philosophy, aesthetics and library and information science. The organisational model of empathy developed by the social psychologist Mark H Davis, the model of reading developed by the linguist Britt-Louise Gunnarsson and the categories for describing reading experiences developed by the SKRINproject are important for the theoretical analysis. A model partially supporting the statement that reading of fiction can develop the empathic ability is presented. The importance of the readers own motivation (about reading) for a positive outcome (regarding empathy) is emphasised. The second part of the paper is an empirical investigation based on seven interviews with people judged by the author as key moulders of the general opinion in this area. The interviews show that the practitioners' notions about the relation between empathy and reading are mostly intuitive and not anchored in theoretical models. The paper also discusses questions raised by the theoretical findings. The need for awareness about the complexity of factors that are crucial to the relation between reading and empathy is emphasised