Theodor Lipps

Theodor Lipps (1851 to 1914) was a German philosopher whose work sits where psychology meets aesthetics, and he is best remembered for the framework behind the concept of empathy. He adapted Robert Vischer's notion of Einfühlung, literally feeling into, and popularised the term for the process of projecting oneself onto the object of perception, treating the contemplation of art as a representation of our own feelings. He is counted among the most important representatives of the psychology of aesthetics, alongside Stephan Witasek and Johannes Volkelt. Early in his career he defended psychologism, arguing in Logik (1893) that logic is a psychological discipline, though later he took up some ideas of Edmund Husserl. One geometric optical illusion, in which parallel lines look tilted, carries his name. He taught at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Sigmund Freud numbered among his admirers.