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> He clearly has empathy or he would not be particularly good at manipulation. Understanding what empathy is, enough to use it against others, doesn't prove th
by tredre3 2y ago
> He clearly has empathy or he would not be particularly good at manipulation.
Understanding what empathy is, enough to use it against others, doesn't prove that he can feel it himself.
I think that, by default, we should assume that he's not a sociopath because most people aren't. But your argument against it is duly unconvincing.
- aspenmayer 2y ago> Understanding what empathy is, enough to use it against others, doesn't prove that he can feel it himself. One could also experience empathy and simply not care, or could even care but proceed in a self-interested manner all the same, which could be described as psychopathic as opposed to sociopathic.
- timewizard 2y agoThe definition of empathy is pretty narrow: "Empathy is generally described as the ability to take on another person's perspective, to understand, feel, and possibly share and respond to their experience." Understanding is required, sharing is not, and in particular, simply sharing in someones emotional state does not imply that your goal is to improve the outcome for the other person. It may actually be to deepen it to take advantage of it. Empathy does not imply any system of values or consciousness, although, I recognize it is often casually meant that way, that was not the definition I was using.