We see the other person generalized, in some measure. This is so, perhaps, because we cannot fully represent to ourselves an individuality which deviates from our own. Any re-creation of a person is determined by one’s similarity to him. … It seems, however, that every individual has in himself a core of individuality which cannot be re-created by anybody else whose core differs qualitatively from his own. And the challenge to re-create is logically incompatible with psychological distance and objective judgment which are also bases for representing another. We cannot know completely the individuality of another.

QUESTION: If full re-creation is impossible, what degree of understanding is actually achievable between people? This raises an epistemic limit worth exploring.

XREF: Relates to theories of empathy and perspective-taking, and to the limits of biography and character portrayal.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 173