The Role of Empathy in Shaping Social Attitudes – Selected Images of Peasants in 19th Century Russian Literature

The methodological basis in this article is the phenomenon of empathy. This concept is proving to be a useful tool for literary studies, as well as becoming an increasingly important aspect in historical sciences. On the basis of an analysis of literary texts, which are historical images of human thought and sensibility, a picture of empathetic attitudes towards the peasant stratum in 19th century Russia is outlined. The literary writers show in their texts the gradual evolution of sensitivity towards the peasants – from indicating the possibility to empathize with them, to showing exemplary attitudes of representatives of the aristocracy, to full identification with representatives of the peasant layer. The literary analysis makes it possible to see the correlation between growing social empathy and democratic changes in the state.