ABSTRACT Writing about historical empathy and its place in education in the 1980s, Denis Shemilt pointed out that ‘the theory of “empathetic reconstruction” excites the devotion of some and the censure of others.1 This article discusses the debates that the concept’s introduction in the English educational system caused and the key objections against its implementation in history teaching. These objections, which in some cases are voiced even today, have to do with the concept’s complex meaning, the idea that understanding people in the past is impossible, and pessimistic views about students’ ability to make sense of past behaviour. In order to counter these objections this article discusses the idea of empathy in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of history and suggests a definition of the concept in ways that distinguish between problematic and helpful notions related to the concept. It also discusses available research findings about students’ ideas of the concept.