• bert1
    2.1k
    My intuition is, for example, incompatible with bert1's distinction between cognitive empathy and affective empathy. To me (intuitively), cognitive empathy isn't empathy at all.Dawnstorm

    Yes I think you are probably right. Perhaps it would be better to say that empathy has two components, both of which are necessary for empathy to occur. You can't feel another's pain (in some sense) without first recognising that they are in pain.
  • DifferentiatingEgg
    584
    My man, you're grasping at straws. Empathy is sharing in the suffering of another sympathy means you recognize it that's pretty much it, regardless if you help or not.

    Like bro, Im sympathetic to your cause but I'm busy with my own shit...
  • Malcolm Parry
    299

    I’m definitely not your man. You stick to your own shit.
  • Athena
    3.4k
    I am raising this area of debate with a view to thinking about the nature of compassion. The author of the article also raises the question, 'Does Empathy Always Lead to Sympathy? I see this question as particularly significant as so much is becoming 'robotic' and machine-based? Is it leading to moral indifference and based on the philosophy of the objective idea of the importance of 'emotional detachment as an ethical ideal? What do you think about the ideas of sympathy, empathy and its relevance for life?.Jack Cummins

    Before the Internet, I corresponded with prisoners. Prisoners wanting letters could put their name and address in a motorcycle magazine. So this one guy writes to me...

    "You may think shit tastes bad, but you don't know how bad untile you eat it."

    And remember Spock in Star Trek. Spock was brought back to life, and Doc asked him what it was like to be dead. Spock replies by asking him if he has ever been dead. Doc answers that he was never dead, so Spock tells him that he has nothing to reference to. In other words, the only way to know an experience is to have that experience.

    When I studied gerontology at the local university, I thought I knew about growing old. :lol: All that book learning did not prepare me for the experience of being old, and there is no indication that our doctors understand the meaning of struggling with pain and tiredness and unpleasant physical changes. They know the words and dictionary definitions, but not the experience.

    All that is different from question about
    I see this question as particularly significant as so much is becoming 'robotic' and machine-based?Jack Cummins

    That is more a psychological matter than philosophical. Number one, THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE! For our own self-defense, we have to shut down because it is way too much to engage with everyone on a personal basis every day of the week. We can not be intimate with everyone in our lives and hold most people as personally distant as we can, so the checkout clerk is part of the store, not part of our lives. This is way more mechanical than family relationships. We stand on a crowded elevator with strangers we ignore. If we do not learn to tune people out, we burn out. This is especially so for professionals in caregiving positions. For example, I can not work in a nursing home because I can't handle all that pain. I gave up a volunteer job when I realized there was nothing I could do for homeless mothers needing shelter. Even rescue dogs need to find living people. The need is so strong for dogs, the handlers will intentionally give the dog a living person to find.
  • Athena
    3.4k
    Linguistically empathy implies a lack of differentiation between the two subjects whereas sympathy or compassion implies a retention of the differentiation between the two subjects.Leontiskos

    I love linguistics and learning the origin of words.

    What is Empathy? The origin of the word empathy dates back to the 1880s, when German psychologist Theodore Lipps coined the term “einfuhlung” (literally, “in-feeling”) to describe the emotional appreciation of another's feelings. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5571783/#:~:text=What%20is%20Empathy%3F,emotional%20appreciation%20of%20another's%20feelings.

    The word has Greek roots

    Origin
    em and pathos

    The prefix "em-" in words like "embolden" or "embrace" comes from the Latin prefix "in-" (meaning "in" or "into"), which is then assimilated to "em-" before labial consonants like "b" or "p", according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. So, "em-" itself isn't a root word, but rather a variant of "en-" used in specific contexts.

    "Pathos" itself comes from the Greek word meaning "suffering" or "feeling."

    I think we can have sympathy for another without having empathy, because we can think something is bad without feeling the pain.

    Like homelessness- I think everyone can think that being homeless is undesirable, but having the experience of being homeless triggers many thoughts that come with feelings. Fear, fatigue, low self-esteem, and powerlessness. That is a little more than the inconvenience and discomfort of not having a home.
  • Jack Cummins
    5.5k

    It is a good question as to whether someone needs to have experienced another's pain in order to be able to empathize. In mental health care, there was some focus on the employment of people who had experienced mental health problems because they had more lived experience which would enable greater understanding of mental health problems. However, it did also appear that members of staff who had family members with mental health issues also were able to empathise and understand these issues extremely well.

    The right balance between others' pain and becoming overwhelmed by it is critical. This does explain burnout in the healthcare profession Also, in everyday life, the term 'compassion fatigue' is a way of describing too much concern for others to the point where it drains one's energies.

    The issue of 'too many people', is one problem which I see with the commandment of 'love your neighbour as yourself', as there are so many neighbours. How does one prioritize, especially in the global context. It may be simpler in small scale communities. The problem is that in densely urban populations, a lack of community exists. It is in this context that people may become treated as numbers, or even as 'objects'. Lack of 'community' can result in so many people becoming isolated and neglected.
  • Harry Hindu
    5.7k
    Sympathy is applied empathy as wisdom is applied intelligence.
  • AmadeusD
    3.3k
    Havent read the thread, but as far as I can tell they are used interchangeably most of the time, but each is distinct in semantic terms.

    Sympathy = hypothetical/imaginative empathy
    Empathy = actually understanding what someone is dealing with.

    That may not be entirely accurate, as I think i've imported some of my own use here. It's probably two lines similar, but weaker than the above.
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