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I think empathy is more of an experience you feel when confronted with a situation or story, rather than something you grant to people after a process of logica

by ktizo 14y ago

I think empathy is more of an experience you feel when confronted with a situation or story, rather than something you grant to people after a process of logical judgement.

dmix 14y ago
I disagree that empathy can only be the result of an emotional response and not rational thought.
- andreasvc 14y ago
  But that's how it's generally defined, e.g. wikipedia: "Empathy is the capacity to recognize feelings that are being experienced by another sentient [...] being." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy
  - dmix 14y ago
    Although tempting, debating the meaning of empathy is probably not a beneficial contribution to this HN thread. But I will say, the initial emotional response (for ex. feeling sad someone was harmed) is largely out of our control. But spending time feeling bad after the fact is a controllable state, and is the basis of a large amount of psychological and behavioral therapy.
    - ktizo 14y ago
      Although tempting, debating the meaning of empathy is probably not a beneficial contribution to this HN thread. Surely, given the subject, it is extremely relevant.
      - Radix_ 14y ago
        But it's beside the point dmix is making and distraction from the central point of this thread. This sort of distraction, subtle changes of topic, is a common way discussions fail. If done deliberately it's also a way to appear to have won an argument.
- ktizo 14y ago
  My current view on it is that empathy isn't specifically an emotional or a rational response, but is more a sensory mirroring of the state of another entity real or imagined, and I am not sure that you can pick apart the strands into one realm or the other. It can be influenced by conscious thought and logic, sure, but as it is primarily experiential in nature, I usually have an experience that I then rationalise about, rather than rationalising what my experience will be beforehand.
  - dmix 14y ago
    I won't debate your comment, it sounds reasonable. But as with my previous comment, I'll repeat "context is important". In the documentary, I watched footage of him sitting 5ft from grizzly bears by himself for 15-20 minutes before they discuss his death. In this article it explains how the girl teased 4chan repeatedly for 3-4 paragraphs before they described the attacks against her. My emotional/empathetic response after hearing what happened to both of them was heavily influenced by rational thought beforehand.

by ktizo 14y ago

I think empathy is more of an experience you feel when confronted with a situation or story, rather than something you grant to people after a process of logical judgement.

dmix 14y ago

I disagree that empathy can only be the result of an emotional response and not rational thought.

andreasvc 14y ago
But that's how it's generally defined, e.g. wikipedia: "Empathy is the capacity to recognize feelings that are being experienced by another sentient [...] being." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy
- dmix 14y ago
  Although tempting, debating the meaning of empathy is probably not a beneficial contribution to this HN thread. But I will say, the initial emotional response (for ex. feeling sad someone was harmed) is largely out of our control. But spending time feeling bad after the fact is a controllable state, and is the basis of a large amount of psychological and behavioral therapy.
  - ktizo 14y ago
    Although tempting, debating the meaning of empathy is probably not a beneficial contribution to this HN thread. Surely, given the subject, it is extremely relevant.
    - Radix_ 14y ago
      But it's beside the point dmix is making and distraction from the central point of this thread. This sort of distraction, subtle changes of topic, is a common way discussions fail. If done deliberately it's also a way to appear to have won an argument.
ktizo 14y ago
My current view on it is that empathy isn't specifically an emotional or a rational response, but is more a sensory mirroring of the state of another entity real or imagined, and I am not sure that you can pick apart the strands into one realm or the other. It can be influenced by conscious thought and logic, sure, but as it is primarily experiential in nature, I usually have an experience that I then rationalise about, rather than rationalising what my experience will be beforehand.
- dmix 14y ago
  I won't debate your comment, it sounds reasonable. But as with my previous comment, I'll repeat "context is important". In the documentary, I watched footage of him sitting 5ft from grizzly bears by himself for 15-20 minutes before they discuss his death. In this article it explains how the girl teased 4chan repeatedly for 3-4 paragraphs before they described the attacks against her. My emotional/empathetic response after hearing what happened to both of them was heavily influenced by rational thought beforehand.