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A comment on Prisons Are an Abomination. Parent comment

Re:Prisons Are an Abomination by thisisweirdok on Tuesday February 26, 2019 @03:05PM (#19257861)
I'm not talking about an intellectual understanding, I'm talking about emotional understanding. Sympathy is intellectual understanding (i.e., recognition), but is not emotional understanding.
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Re:Prisons Are an Abomination by tathougies on Tuesday February 26, 2019 @04:58PM (#19258686)
Emotional understanding means feeling the emotions of the other. If you do not feel what the other is feeling yourself, then you simply have an intellectual appreciation, which you agree is sympathy. Don't take my word for it.

Merriam-webster defines empathy(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy):

> the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings,

Notice the 'and vicariously experiencing'. If there is no experience, it is not empathy. Stop using the word to mean something it is simply not.

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