essendoubleop

Sympathy and empathy are the good ones right? So which one is apathy the opposite of, and what are the difference between the two?

MSD

Apathy isn't an opposite of either. Apathy is a lack of emotion or concern.

Sympathy is understanding the feelings of another person and adopting a similar emotional state.

Empathy is a more extreme extent of sympathy, in which a person vicariously feels the emotion of another person.

HamiC

Who cares?

OK. I'm sorry if that sounded insensitive.

That probably made you feel bad. And that makes me feel bad.


; )

kulrblind

hahahahahaha.... *tips hat*

bobson

HamiC, that was beautiful.

~springrain

people with personality disorders (ie- sociopaths, etc.) lack the ability to have empathy...

more simply put... wackos don't give a shit about anyone but themselves...

Kagh't

i always thought empathy was understanding what people felt, and sympathy was feeling the emotion with them?
if not, i've made some serious mistakes in essays

~springrain

you're not totally off there... it's a fine line... here's what Merriam-Webster says:

Main Entry: sym·pa·thy
Pronunciation: 'sim-p&-thE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -thies
Etymology: Latin sympathia, from Greek sympatheia, from sympathEs having common feelings, sympathetic, from syn- + pathos feelings, emotion, experience -- more at PATHOS
1 a : an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other b : mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it c : unity or harmony in action or effect
2 a : inclination to think or feel alike : emotional or intellectual accord b : feeling of loyalty : tendency to favor or support <republican sympathies>
3 a : the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another b : the feeling or mental state brought about by such sensitivity <have sympathy for the poor>
4 : the correlation existing between bodies capable of communicating their vibrational energy to one another through some medium
synonym see ATTRACTION, PITY


Main Entry: em·pa·thy
Pronunciation: 'em-p&-thE
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek empatheia, literally, passion, from empathEs emotional, from em- + pathos feelings, emotion -- more at PATHOS
1 : the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
2 : the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this