Edith Stein

Agora

Edith Stein

1891–1942

A first way ina deliberate simplification – the portrait says more

We know other people by empathy, directly feeling their experience as theirs – and faith and philosophy can be joined in one view of being.

Placement

Phenomenology & Hermeneutics · Eastern Europe · Mind & Consciousness, Religion, Existence & Self

Phenomenologist of empathy; joined Husserl with Thomas Aquinas. Murdered at Auschwitz in 1942.

Key ideas

Empathy
Finite and Eternal Being

Teachers: Edmund Husserl

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Influence

Influenced by 4

Thomas Aquinas

influenced by
Stein compared Husserl with Aquinas (1929), translated De veritate (1931–32) and joined both in Endliches und ewiges Sein (written 1935–37; publ. 1950). E. Stein, “Husserls Phänomenologie und die Philosophie des hl. Thomas v. Aquino” (1929); Des hl. Thomas von Aquino Untersuchungen über die Wahrheit, trans. E. Stein (1931–32); Endliches und ewiges Sein (publ. 1950); SEP “Edith Stein”
Evidence: AI draft
Thomas Aquinas › c. 1225–1274
Teresa of Ávila

influenced by
Stein read Teresa’s Life in 1921, before her baptism; as a Carmelite she wrote a short life of Teresa (1934) and interpreted her Interior Castle (‘Die Seelenburg’, 1936). E. Stein, Liebe um Liebe. Leben und Werk der heiligen Teresa von Jesus (1934); “Die Seelenburg” (written 1936), in Endliches und ewiges Sein (publ. 1950); SEP “Edith Stein”
Evidence: AI draft
Teresa of Ávila › 1515–1582
Edmund Husserl studied with

studied with ✓
Stein studied with Husserl in Göttingen from 1913, took her doctorate under him in Freiburg in 1916 with a thesis on empathy and was his first paid assistant from October 1916 to February 1918, transcribing and editing his manuscripts. SEP “Edith Stein”
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata · InPhO
Edmund Husserl › 1859–1938
Max Scheler

influenced by
Stein heard Scheler in Göttingen and discussed his theory of the perception of other minds, partly critically, in her dissertation On the Problem of Empathy (1917). E. Stein, Zum Problem der Einfühlung (1917); Aus dem Leben einer jüdischen Familie (written 1933–35; publ. 1965); SEP “Edith Stein”
Evidence: AI draft
Max Scheler › 1874–1928

Criticism

Criticizes 1

Martin Heidegger

criticised
Stein objected that Heidegger’s analysis of Dasein never asks whence thrown, finite existence receives its being, and so closes itself off from eternal being (‘Martin Heideggers Existenzphilosophie’, 1936). E. Stein, “Martin Heideggers Existenzphilosophie” (written 1936 as an appendix to Endliches und ewiges Sein; publ. 1962); SEP “Edith Stein”
Evidence: AI draft
Martin Heidegger › 1889–1976

Works

1917On the Problem of Empathy
How do we experience the experience of others?

Position

Stein’s dissertation asked a basic question of phenomenology: how do we experience the inner life of another person? Empathy, she argued, is a unique kind of act in which we grasp another’s experience as theirs, given to us but not lived by us – distinct both from our own feelings and from mere inference. This analysis of empathy is fundamental for understanding intersubjectivity, community and the person. In her later work she sought to connect Husserl’s phenomenology with the thought of Thomas Aquinas, developing a philosophy of finite and eternal being. She also wrote on the education and vocation of women.

Life & context

Born into a Jewish family in Breslau, Stein studied with Husserl in Göttingen, earned her doctorate under him and became his assistant, but was denied a professorship as a woman. In 1922 she converted to Catholicism and later entered the Carmelite convent in Cologne as Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was murdered at Auschwitz in 1942 and canonised in 1998.