ABSTRACT

In everyday language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), “people often confuse the words empathy and sympathy.” As is clarified promptly, “empathy means ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another’ (as in both authors have the skill to make you feel empathy with their heroines), whereas sympathy means ‘feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune’ (as in they had great sympathy for the flood victims).” In the case of “compassion,” the usage is presented as rather straightforward. Compassion is understood as “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others: the victims should be treated with compassion.” The formulation “should be treated” already implies an other-directed awareness that is aimed at a helping behaviour—even if no action proper is taken, compassion demands one to adopt a certain respectful attitude towards the suffering person.