Empathy and compassion are two terms believed to offer the same descriptions, but some differences can be scrutinized. Let us begin first with the definition of the two terms. Compassion has to do with the empathetic feeling towards another individual without trying to understand their feelings or even knowing the intenseness of their misery. On the other hand, empathy has to do with attempting to visualize another person’s difficulty associated with powerful feelings for that individual, knowing his difficulty, and sharing the feelings. The significant difference between compassion and empathy is how we approach one another. When it comes to compassion, we examine the individual from our juncture. In empathy, we attempt to view the difficulty from the individual’s point of view. Using this article, we tend to comprehend this difference in the segment.
What is Compassion?
Compassion is a kind of emotion that you tend to sense for the individual concerned. You firmly feel sorry for the condition of an individual without endeavouring to understand what is in the individual’s mind. You don’t even care to know the intenseness of their situation or plight; you merely feel sorry for an individual. Compassion does not have to do with sharing emotions with an individual. You don’t tend to put yourself into the predicament of the person suffering when you demonstrate compassion to them. Without knowing their feelings, you would just become sorry for the individual. This is the only significant disparity between compassion and empathy. This causes it to be simple for an individual to have compassion towards another than empathy.
What is Empathy?
Empathy can be regarded as an elevated status of uninhibited behaviour. It has to do with some fantasy of the individual’s dilemma or difficulty coupled with strong emotions. The fantasy of similar problems is the hallmark of empathy. This kind of fantasy lays the basis for attaining empathy for an individual. You desire to share your emotions with someone in the condition of empathy. Hence, it is indispensable to understand that in the possibility of empathy, one has to put himself into the condition of the person who is suffering as far as encountering the effect of misery is concerned. You become one with the individual after knowing their feeling. Empathy is a complicated kind of emotion. It requires fundamental knowledge of the expressive standard of human beings.
Difference Between Compassion and Empathy
- Empathy is described as attempting to imagine another person’s difficulty coupled with strong emotions for that individual, knowing his misery and sharing the feeling. In contrast, compassion has to do with human emotions towards another individual without trying to understand their feelings or even knowing the severity of their difficulty.
- Empathy is approached from the point of view of the individual suffering by putting oneself into the sufferer’s shoes. In compassion, it is approached from the viewer’s point of view.
- In empathy, the person requires in-depth knowledge to empathize. In compassion, the individual only requires fundamental knowledge to be compassionate.
- In empathy, the person tries to share emotions. In compassion, the person does not try to share emotion.
