Empathy, historical empathy and prehistoric empathy: a conceptual approach from Social Sciences teaching

Abstract

This study presents the interdisciplinary evolution of the concept of empathy and its contributions to historical empathy to specify the new concept of prehistoric empathy in the specific field of Social Sciences Teaching. To this end, the contributions of the Anglo-Saxon school are reviewed and, in particular, those developed in Spain since the beginning of the trends of renewal of History teaching to our days, when social and educational relevance of Prehistory makes relevant to delve into its conceptual singularity. Prehistoric empathy is nourished by the epistemological richness of the concept of empathy, but it also directs its gaze, from different educational spaces, to the implementation of active methodologies, which include experimental archeology and dramatization techniques.