non ego man wrote:Just because this seems to be of such interest, below I've copied and pasted from a medical journal the distinction as I understand it. Maybe this is too clinical a definition, but here it is:
"Empathy Versus Sympathy (and Versus Pity)
Sympathy implies feeling shared with the sufferer as if the pain belonged to both persons: We sympathize with other human beings when we share and suffer with them. It would stand to reason, therefore, that completely shared suffering can never exist between physician and patient; otherwise, the physician would share the patient's plight and would therefore be unable to help.
Empathy is concerned with a much higher order of human relationship and understanding: engaged detachment. In empathy, we "borrow" another's feelings to observe, feel, and understand them--but not to take them onto ourselves. By being a participant-observer, we come to understand how the other person feels. An empathetic observer enters into the equation and then is removed. "
Unless I'm reading it wrong, they seem to be saying that:
Someone exhibiting sympathy actually feels or has felt the experience of the other party; while
Someone exhibiting empathy understands that persons experience but is still an outside observer and does not experience.
Even if I'm stupid, clearly there are some clever people out there who agree with me.
And could you please let me know your level of education, D2A, so we can tell who is right and who is wrong? Your rules, not mine.
Let me explain this is very simple terms:
When you sympathize for someone, you feel sorry for their pain. When you feel empathy, you are feeling into their pain too. They have very close meanings, but they are not synonymous.
Sympathy = Acknowledging another's person feelings.
Empathy = Mutual feelings of another person's pain.
Empathy can only be felt when you have experienced the same as the person you are emphathizing with. For instance, if a parent loses a child but you have not...you can
only sympathize with that person. There is
no way you can feel empathy. On the other hands, if you have lost a child too, you can then emphathize with the person because you know how it feels as you've been
into their shoes before. Understand?
Empathy is understanding another person's feelings from their viewpoint, from their experiences and feeling
since you've been through what they've went through.
Sympathy is more like putting yourself in anothers "shoes" and experiencing how
you would feel if you were in their position.
As for my educational level, I have a bachelor degree as I've stated before. No, I don't have a degree in English, I know what I'm talking about. Since you were being nice in your post and was willing to actually learn something without insulting, I'd return that favor also an leave it at that.
Next time, don't try to fix me. Thanks.
.
If I post a copy of my doctorate diploma, it means I win? (Unless, of course, you have a doctorate that trumps my doctorate...but I'm guessing we won't have to cross that bridge.)
My only response to your assertion is that you should be able to tell from the way I present my arguments and my vocabulary that I am none of the things you suggest.
(
u sure act stupid for someone with anything beyond a middle school education
