Kant über Mitleidenschaft

Abstract

In his discussion of sympathetic participation in § 34 of the Doctrine of Virtue, Kant twice uses an unusual word that does not reappear anywhere in his writings: Mitleidenschaft. So far, the significance of this has gone unnoticed. But there is a historical source that reveals precisely why he uses this word, which in turn sheds new light on the philosophical substance of Kant’s theory of sympathy.