this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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Threats and promises are your guiding principles? (discuss.online)
submitted 15 hours ago by VetOfTheSeas@discuss.online to c/atheism@lemmy.world
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[–] Uebercomplicated@lemmy.ml 3 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

This is the distinction between empathy and sympathy. Sympathy is a far older word and a synonym of compassion and what you describe in your comment. Empathy is a concept from aesthetics and psychology, though, (actually derived from the German Einfühlung circa 1909) and is really an intellectual activity. Real empathy is, indeed, taught.

If you want to learn more about empathy I can highly recommend Theodor Lipp's Leitfaden der Psychologie (a work of philosophy, not psychology as the title would suggest): Internet Archive [German].

Sources:

[–] Kalothar@lemmy.ca 8 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

I already commented on this in this thread, but describing the concept of something and the something existing are two different things.

The concept of empathy was first introduced by aestheticians in the mid-19th century. They used the German word “Einfühlung” to describe the emotional “knowing” of a work of art from within, by feeling an emotional resonance with the work of art.

Sliced bread also wasn’t sold in stores until the 20th century, but people were slicing bread long long before that. People have been experiencing empathy since before we were homo sapians.

Prosocial behaviors have many origins and its multi factorial, the interplay between them are complicated. But it’s not like the feeling of empathy isn’t part of our genetic make up.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5513638/

[–] Uebercomplicated@lemmy.ml 4 points 11 hours ago

Fascinating article, it was a pleasure to read! I learned something new, certainly. I am otherwise only familiar with empathy from philosophy.

The other thing you refer to – concept vs. actual reality, if I understand you correctly – is, of course, a very valid and big debate in linguistics; prescriptive definitions vs. descriptive definitions. That is why I linked the OED, since it is a historical dictionary. Or do you mean philosophical concept vs. physical reality?

My comment was about that prescriptive, philosophical definition of the word. But the study you link shows that empathy is, indeed, much bigger than that.

Really I didn't want to criticize the person I replied to, though – just share the origin of empathy (the word). But thank you for providing a far more detailed explanation of what it actually is!