empathy

Term: empathy

Origin: Anc Greek

εν /en(=in)

+ πάθος/pathos (=passion, sorrow, strong emotion)

literally meaning “feeling in”.

Coined

He was Scottish Philosopher, Economist and Historian  David Hume (1711-1776
who first mentioned that “sympathy”, or the communication of passions, takes place among animals, no less than among men". The English “empathy” is a translation of the German word “Einfühlun”, coined in 1873 by the German philosopher Robert Vischer (1847-1933 ) with a projection of feelings into art work in order  to explain how we "feel into" or "in-feeling" of works of arts and nature.  His father Friedrich Theodor Vischer had used a similar term (Einfόhlen =feel into).  Although the English term “empathy” is  credit to German philosopher, phycisian  and logician Rudolf Hermann Lotze (1817 –1881)  most say that  the term was coined in 1909 by Edward Titchener (1867-1927 ) "Process of humanizing objects, of reading or feeling ourselves into them". In 1904 the term was introduced into the study of aesthetics (the branch of philosophy concerned with the study of beauty) in England by the writer Vernon Lee (1856—1935) (pseudonym of the British writer Violet Paget). In 1918 Psychologist Elmer E. Southard used empathy between patient and clinician.  The concept did not become important until 1960, when American Heinz Kohut (1913-1981 (American) and Carl Rogers (1902—87) used it in order to develop a more open form of psychotherapy. In Client-Centred Therapy (1951), Rogers suggested that therapeutic success could only be achieved through the cultivation of a genuine interest in the patient.

Definition  

Empathy is the capability to share your feelings and understand another’s emotion and feelings  that is presented with metaphor  “put oneself into another’s shoes,”. Empathy does not necessarily imply compassion, sympathy, or empathic concern because this capacity can be present in context of compassionate