The Emphatic Civilisation by Jeremy Rifkin, according to the research in Italy, human are "soft wired" which means being able to feel what others feel. At first human could feel the feelings within their tribal group, then religious group, and then a national society. Moreover from the incident in Haiti, Rifkin states people living far away from Haiti felt empathetic toward the Haitian. Rifkin also points out that human gene traces back to a single woman and a single man, which means all human population are connected. What Rifkin tells the viewers is called "existentialism." Existentialism is a philosophical theory that being human starts with feeling the emotions of others.
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Kierkegaard and Sartre are philosophers who introduced this idea. Kierkegaard is considered to be the first existentialism philosopher. His works focused on the importance of personal choice ans commitment. Sartre is also a writer who wrote about existentialism.
Then how does this term related to Kafka's The Metamorphosis? Kafka is a modernist writer who criticized how inhumane people are due to their commitment to jobs. Kafka constantly points out the fact that Gregor, the main character, has no connections with his family. Although Gregor feels what his family feels, his family cannot feel what Gregor feels. Kafka illustrates Gregor's family as inhumane beings. Kafka formats his work that way to bring empathy to Gregor, in other words, to bring humanism back.
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