- Department:
- Department of Germanic Studies
- Campus:
- IU Bloomington
Fritz Breithaupt teaches in cognitive science and Germanic studies and has published widely on empathy, narrative cognition, intellectual history, and German and European literature. His latest book is The Dark Sides of Empathy, from Cornell University Press (2019). The book discusses the many negative forms of behavior that can be motivated by empathy from vampirism to polarization. He founded and directs the Experimental Humanities Laboratory at IU to study narratives and narrative cognition empirically. His previous books focus on empathy; excuse making; the intellectual history of selfhood; and the German author Goethe. He is a frequent contributor to the press, including Die Zeit and Philosophie Magazin.