What is empathy?
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What is empathy?
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Re: What is empathy?
#2This 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 be used for good or bad not just good and it's doesn't mean that just because I can put myself in their position I agree with their pov (which many people will claim i.e. "you have no empathy")
Re: What is empathy?
#3This 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…
This is a really good point. Empathy can be applied to judging moral crimes such as stealing food becuase you are starving. Although anctedotally I find that people who come from the exact background/situation tend to have less empathy even though they understand the context more.
Re: What is empathy?
#4Empathy isn't the ability to say "I understand." Empathy is admitting that, sometimes, you don't understand, but you'll still try and be appropriately supportive.
Re: What is empathy?
#5This 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 in general we take the "understanding" part in empathy too lightly. I would say we use "empathy" a lot when we are actually talking about compassion. Since the inner experience is never completely shareable, it's hard to talk about real understanding. Not trying to get philosophical here, we will probably agree that a reasonable level of understanding is both possible and sufficient. But I feel like too often there's way more "rationalization" than actual understanding, and we make the (in my opinion) mistake of calling that "empathy".
With this in mind, I would say empathy is always socially positive. If we were talking about compassion, I would share more your opinion, but I'd still say it's positive as long as we do not completely swap it for empathy.
Re: What is empathy?
#6Empathy isn't the ability to say "I understand." Empathy is admitting that, sometimes, you don't understand, but you'll still try and be appropriately supportive.
I think that should have been more discussed in the article. What is empathy? I'd say empathy involves understanding ("I know how you feel"), and I would call what you talk about "compassion" or goodwill/being supportive/caring for someone ("I can't say I know how it's like to be in your situation, but I can see you are suffering and I'll be there for you")
Re: What is empathy?
#7Re: What is empathy?
#8Empathy isn't the ability to say "I understand." Empathy is admitting that, sometimes, you don't understand, but you'll still try and be appropriately supportive.
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"
Re: What is empathy?
#9This 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…
This is a really good point. Empathy can be applied to judging moral crimes such as stealing food becuase you are starving. Although anctedotally I find that people who come from the exact background/situation tend to have less empathy even though they understand the context more.
Your experience seems to match the research. People who faced a challenge and succeeded in overcoming it tended to judge people who failed more harshly, but tended to judge people who succeeded more favourably.
https://hbr.org/2015/10/its-harder-to-empathize-with-people-...
Re: What is empathy?
#10This 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…
The difference is between empathy and compassion.
Just because I understand doesn't mean I care.