Empathy is not the opposite of bullying and being mean. In fact, empathy really helps if you want to be good at it. Empathy is not the same thing as compassion.
1. Compassion is a state of caring about others. It does not have to be automatic. 2. If a sadistic person has no empathy (i.e. can only recognize/infer but not experience the mental states of others), they won't get much pleasure out of inflicting pain on others.
-
-
1. But then what causes compassion for strangers? If not automated, there has to be some sort of evaluation of others' mental states, which one can relate to oneself. 2. It seems to me the reverse,sadistic people can be empathetic(adding more value to their sadism).
-
1. Compassion is caused by the recognition of a shared purpose in the relation to avoiding suffering. 2. Not sure how pleasure (not indifference!) would be derived from suffering of others without the ability to experience it somehow.
- 1 more reply
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.