Seems like there’s two strands of empathy that humans can use.
The first kind is emotional empathy, where you put yourself in someone’s place and imagine what you would feel. This one usually leads to sympathy, giving material assistance, comforting.
The second kind is agentic empathy, where you put yourself in someone’s place and imagine what you would do. This one more often leads to giving advice.
A common kind of problem occurs when we deploy one type of empathy but not the other. John Wentworth has written about how (probably due to lack of emotional empathy) he finds himself much less kind when he puts himself in others’ shoes.
Splitting empathy is a common trick when discussing conflicts: for my friends, feelings; for my enemies, decisions. You talk about how your allies might feel, and how your enemies might behave (differently), but not vice versa. Feel free to come up with an example which fits your political leanings; I won’t be giving one.
Two Kinds of Empathy
Seems like there’s two strands of empathy that humans can use.
The first kind is emotional empathy, where you put yourself in someone’s place and imagine what you would feel. This one usually leads to sympathy, giving material assistance, comforting.
The second kind is agentic empathy, where you put yourself in someone’s place and imagine what you would do. This one more often leads to giving advice.
A common kind of problem occurs when we deploy one type of empathy but not the other. John Wentworth has written about how (probably due to lack of emotional empathy) he finds himself much less kind when he puts himself in others’ shoes.
Splitting empathy is a common trick when discussing conflicts: for my friends, feelings; for my enemies, decisions. You talk about how your allies might feel, and how your enemies might behave (differently), but not vice versa. Feel free to come up with an example which fits your political leanings; I won’t be giving one.