Reclaiming Connection: Empathy and Compassion

Reclaiming Connection: Empathy and Compassion

edited by Josipa Mihic

In a world increasingly marked by social fragmentation, loneliness, polarization, and ecological challenges, the experience of connectedness has become both a fundamental human concern and an important area of scientific and philosophical inquiry. How do we experience connection with ourselves, with others, and with the more-than-human world? What roles do empathy and compassion play in shaping, sustaining, and transforming these relationships? And how might a deeper understanding of these phenomena contribute to more meaningful ways of relating to one another and to the world we inhabit?

This special issue seeks to bring together diverse disciplinary, cultural, and contemplative perspectives to explore the nature and experience of connectedness, with particular attention to empathy and compassion as fundamental dimensions of relational life. Rather than approaching empathy and compassion solely as individual psychological capacities, we invite contributors to consider their embodied, relational, and contextual dimensions, examining how they emerge through interactions and participate in shaping our experience of self, others, and the world. We also invite contributions that bring first-person experience into dialogue with second-person relational processes and third-person scientific investigations, as well as papers that critically examine the possibilities and limitations of these approaches. We are particularly interested in exploring the reciprocal relationship between empathy, compassion, and connectedness: how empathy and compassion may foster experiences of connection, but also how the experience of connectedness may shape our capacity to understand, resonate with, and care for others.

Contemporary research in psychology, cognitive and affective science, prevention science, neuroscience, education, therapy, and contemplative studies offers increasingly rich perspectives on this theme. At the same time, phenomenological, enactive, and embodied approaches challenge purely individualistic understandings of these phenomena, emphasizing the relational and participatory nature of human experience. From these perspectives, connectedness may be understood not simply as a subjective feeling or a desirable outcome, but as a dynamic process emerging through embodied interaction, mutual responsiveness, and shared meaning-making.

Across philosophical and contemplative traditions, compassion and empathy have long been understood as central to ethical life and to our relationships with other beings. Many traditions also emphasize interdependence and the interconnected nature of existence, inviting reflection on forms of connection that extend beyond interpersonal relationships to encompass nature, other living beings, and the wider world. This special issue welcomes transcultural perspectives that explore how empathy, compassion, and connectedness are understood, experienced, and cultivated across different traditions and contexts, while remaining attentive to their conceptual and cultural differences.

Importantly, we also invite critical perspectives on the complexities and limitations of empathy and compassion. Under what circumstances do these capacities strengthen connection, and when might they contribute to emotional distress, fatigue, burnout, selective concern, exclusion, or disconnection? Can compassion extend beyond those with whom we naturally identify or feel connected? What are the limitations of empathy and compassion in helping us navigate difference, conflict, vulnerability, and uncertainty in contemporary societies?

We also invite contributions that critically examine how artificial intelligence and technologically mediated forms of interaction shape our experiences of connectedness, empathy, and compassion, raising new questions about the nature, possibilities, and limitations of human relationships in an increasingly digital world.

Ultimately, this special issue aims to deepen our understanding of connectedness as a multidimensional phenomenon, exploring the ways empathy and compassion both shape and are shaped by our relationships with ourselves, others, and the world. By bringing together empirical research, philosophical reflection, contemplative wisdom, therapeutical interventions, and lived experience, we hope to open new perspectives on what it means to be connected and how such understanding might contribute to individual and collective flourishing.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• The phenomenology and lived experience of connectedness
• Empathy, compassion, and the relational nature of human experience
• Embodied, enactive, and interpersonal approaches to empathy and compassion
• Psychological, neuroscientific, and therapeutical perspectives on empathy, compassion, and connectedness
• Compassion, empathy, and intersubjectivity
• Connectedness, belonging, loneliness, and social isolation
• Empathy and compassion in contemplative practices and wisdom traditions
• Empathy, compassion and connection with nature, non-human beings, and the more-than-human world
• Empathy, compassion, and connectedness in education, healthcare, prevention and psychotherapy
• The role of empathy, compassion and connectedness in social transformation, global crisis, conflict, and reconciliation
• The limits and challenges of empathy and compassion
• Cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives on empathy, compassion and connectedness
• The relationship between connectedness, well-being, and individual and collective flourishing
• Empathy, compassion, and connectedness in the time of artificial intelligence
• Technologically mediated connection and disconnection: implications for human relationships and relational experience

 

Deadlines:

Abstracts submission: March 30, 2027. Please send them to josipa.mihic@erf.unizg.hr

Full papers: September 30, 2027.