According to a report, titled “Violence against Women: an EU-wide survey” published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights in March 2014, « one in three women (33 %) has experienced physical and/or sexual violence since she was 15 years old, and, slightly more than half of all women in the EU (53 %) avoid certain situations or places, at least sometimes, for fear of being physically or sexually assaulted”. The report stresses that the “feeling of vulnerability” is prevalent among these women. Vulnerability is commonly defined as the “ability to be harmed”, and often associated with weakness or passivity. But the prevalence of the feeling of vulnerability among women in the European Union puts into question this framework and calls for a conceptual revaluation of this notion in order to address its ethical and social significance. This proposal aims to reconsider the moral and philosophical definition of vulnerability based on weakness and harm in order to elaborate a phenomenological ethics of vulnerability that goes beyond traditional accounts of empathy. To do so, the ontological framework of philosophical and psychological theories of empathy will be assessed. Political theories and development policies will be analyzed in order to offer solutions to prevent vulnerability from turning into violence and victimization. weakness and harm in order to elaborate a new definition of vulnerability.
By fleshing out a new understanding of empathy that relies on the phenomenological method, this project aims to understand what it means for someone to feel vulnerable and how another can be responsive to and responsible for this feeling, connecting thereby the explanatory level and the ethical level. Beyond empathy, drawing a phenomenological ethics of vulnerability consists in identifying vulnerability as a universal structure of the human self. This research mixes theoretical analysis (phenomenology) and interdisciplinary empirical work (psychology, cognitive sciences, feminist theories). It bears significant consequences for contemporary philosophical discussions on the nature of the self. Its timeliness echoes a need for new theoretical paradigms to address political and social issues related to self-identity and people’s vulnerability in European societies.
The research methodology is based on (1) theoretical work and (2) fieldwork. Theoretical work consists in thorough analysis and critical assessment of phenomenological works on empathy and vulnerability in order to design a new phenomenological paradigm compatible with social, moral and political theory. Fieldwork consists in observation and interviews with social workers and health professionals working for a NGO, which provide care and assistance to migrants and asylum seekers. The goal is to assess their perceptions of vulnerability and the way they use or refer to this category in their professional practices. Another objective is to study and assess the scope and applicability of the EU recommendations and directives (that refer to vulnerability and vulnerable populations) in such contexts.
The overall objectives of the project consist in elaborating a new paradigm that will consider vulnerability as an intersubjective dynamic rather than an individual state. It aims to show – thanks to theoretical and empirical investigation – that interpersonal relationships are characterized by their openness and affectivity and that vulnerability and precariousness should be differentiated. This conceptual clarification aims to design a theoretical framework on which one could draw new care protocols and policies to thwart the negative effects of vulnerability.
