What is empathy?
21–30 of 88 posts
Re: What is empathy?
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
You state a position, but don't present any argument to support it. You seem to contradict the dictionary definition[1], so what are you basing your definition on? Why is that a better definition and how does that relate to the research in this article? [1] "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another"
I don't agree with the notion that you need to "understand" to be empathetic. If a friend tells me that they're going through a rough time I feel like it's disingenuous for me to tell them that I understand their situation, even if I myself have been through difficult periods. I can't and don't feel like I should give the impression I can understand the nuance of their situation. I've found it's much more productive…
Well, right, you might not immediately understand and identify with someone else's problem. That is, you won't empathize with them. But you could say that you sympathize with them, if their pain causes you to feel pain as well (or joy, or...whatever). Or their situation may cause you to feel compassionate, if their suffering makes you want to help. I think that there are already words that name the feelings you're talking about.
"Empathy" has a generally-accepted meaning. You can disagree with it if you'd like...but it will hinder communication to use words in ways that they aren't commonly used.
Re: What is empathy?
#23to recognize reality as the extension of the self, maybe. dunno. tough to think about.
Re: What is empathy?
#24This is an ongoing discussion I have with many people. There is a weird idea that empathy is something that makes you good. In reality what it is is neither good nor bad. It's the ability to put yourself in the emotional state of someone else to understand things not only from their rational point of view but from the point of view of them as humans with both irrational (emotional) and rational perspectives. It can b…
[deleted]
Re: What is empathy?
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There is a weird idea that empathy is something that makes you good. It's a pretty heavy prerequisite. A lot of bad things can be traced to people not understanding other people, or refusing to understand them (dehumanization). It's sufficiently fundamental and a common problem that I'm not sure how big the cohort of emphatic-but-manipulative people is. It certainly exists, but there are other issues mixed in there…
The problem with your belief is that you are assuming that it's easy to define sexism, racism, homophobia. The reality is that what a lot of people think are ex one of those three just aren't. Very few people are any of those things in any meaningful way. In fact I would claim that your belief is exactly part of the problem in that you confuse empathy with some ethical/moral idea and end up thinking that you have the…
It’s very easy to define sexism, racism, homophobia. I think the thing which makes it hard to spot is that we normally treat questions as boolean yes-or-no things.
For example, a police department which is 10% more likely to let one race off with warnings than another race is racist (and that’s not a moral judgement: if warnings are effective everyone should get them), but it’s also an example deliberately chosen to be as far as possible from racially motivated genocide as I could manage without the risk of people denying it was racism.
It’s a spectrum. How much do you empathise with $person, not do you.
Re: What is empathy?
#26This is an ongoing discussion I have with many people. There is a weird idea that empathy is something that makes you good. In reality what it is is neither good nor bad. It's the ability to put yourself in the emotional state of someone else to understand things not only from their rational point of view but from the point of view of them as humans with both irrational (emotional) and rational perspectives. It can b…
> There is a weird idea that empathy is something that makes you good. It's a pretty heavy prerequisite. A lot of bad things can be traced to people not understanding other people, or refusing to understand them (dehumanization). It's sufficiently fundamental and a common problem that I'm not sure how big the cohort of emphatic-but-manipulative people is. It certainly exists, but there are other issues mixed in there…
> There is a weird idea that empathy is something that makes you good.
By strict definition, the OP is correct. The __presumption__ is you will use that understanding for food. However, having that connection, and using it are two different things.
No preq. Just a baseline.
Re: What is empathy?
#27This is an ongoing discussion I have with many people. There is a weird idea that empathy is something that makes you good. In reality what it is is neither good nor bad. It's the ability to put yourself in the emotional state of someone else to understand things not only from their rational point of view but from the point of view of them as humans with both irrational (emotional) and rational perspectives. It can b…
I think when most people talk about empathy as a good attribute, what they really mean is the capacity for empathy.
I think what they real mean is to have empathy, and uae it for good.
I can put myself in your shoes...and then use that against you. Empathy doesn't promote nor prevent that.
Re: What is empathy?
#28https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw
I used to think I had empathy. I mean, when I see someone being taken advantage of, I tear up immediately. Until one day my mentor straight up told me “you have no empathy.”
Which didn’t really bother me, since I’m pretty sure I’m not a sociopath. (Though that probably wouldn’t bother me either, by definition.)
Watching that video made me realize that what I usually feel is sympathy. I think I’ve been so fortunate (or complacent) that I can’t really say to someone “I’ve been there. I know how it feels.” I mean I have been sad and depressed and lonely, don’t get me wrong, but overall I’m like “holy shit why am I so lucky?”
Feelings are icky. If a close friend suffers a loss, I just want to do something practical. Help them move furniture, or babysit their kid or something. I don’t want to “get down to their level.”
So yeah. No empathy here.
Re: What is empathy?
#29Re: What is empathy?
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There is a weird idea that empathy is something that makes you good. It's a pretty heavy prerequisite. A lot of bad things can be traced to people not understanding other people, or refusing to understand them (dehumanization). It's sufficiently fundamental and a common problem that I'm not sure how big the cohort of emphatic-but-manipulative people is. It certainly exists, but there are other issues mixed in there…
> There is a weird idea that empathy is something that makes you good. By strict definition, the OP is correct. The __presumption__ is you will use that understanding for food. However, having that connection, and using it are two different things. No preq. Just a baseline.
> "The __presumption__ is you will use that understanding for food. However, having that connection, and using it are two different things."
Typo: I think you meant "confection".
;b