this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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Maybe your definition is more specific to having an intuitive grasp of social situations.
In my view, empathy is a superpower that makes it easy to understand how much others may suffer or feel good given any decision. Whether it concerns a neighbor crying about a breakup or a child starving across the globe. It provides a huge dose of motivation to actually do something when others are suffering. It doesn't replace logical thought, it adds to it.
Show me an emotionally charged video of animals being beaten, and I'm much more likely to want to help, as opposed to only seeing some cold facts on a page about numbers of animals mistreated.
and this is my point. You aren't critically evaluating the situation, as the same thing happens in each case.
I'm saying without empathy you might see some cold data and ignore it. With empathy, you have a visceral understanding of the issue, and are motivated to go to the same cold data and make a rational choice for how to help. You're acting like you have to ignore rationality to feel empathy. They can coexist and compliment each other.
Psychopathy is characterized by a lack of empathy. They may be very good at making decisions that benefit themselves, but aren't likely to do things to increase others' well being at their own expense, even if it's a net positive.