Empathy needs a face

The importance of the face is best understood, it is suggested, from the ef fects of visible facial difference in people. Their experience reflects the ways in which the face may be necessary for the interpersonal relatedness underlying such 'sharing' mind states as empathy. It is proposed that the f ace evolved as a result of several evolutionary pressures but that it is we ll placed to assume the role of an embodied representation of the increasin gly refined inner states of mind that developed as primates became more soc ial, and required more complex social intelligence. The consequences of various forms of facial disfigurement on interpersonal relatedness and intersubjectivity are then discussed. These narratives reve al the importance of the face in the development of the self-esteem that se ems a prerequisite of being able to initiate, and enter, relationships betw een people. Such experiences are beyond normal experience and, as such, req uire an extended understanding of the other: to understand facial differenc e requires empathy. But, in addition, it is also suggested that empathy its elf is supported by, and requires, the embodied expression and communicatio n of emotion that the face provides.