by Karim Jessa

Created on: January 22, 2012   Last Updated: January 23, 2012

Empathy is an understanding; sympathy is an emotion. Empathy springs from the mind, sympathy springs from the heart. To empathize with someone is to put yourself in that person's place; to sympathize with someone is to feel sorry for that person.

This in short is the difference between empathy and sympathy. There is a lot of confusion as to the differences or similarities between these two terms. The most misleading is when these are regarded as synonyms. This is definitely incorrect. They are not synonymous.

Then there are some who regard these as somewhat similar, except that empathy is supposed to be a higher form of sympathy. That is to say, sympathy merely involves feeling sorry for someone, while empathy involves feeling sorry as well as understanding the other person's plight. This is still wide off the mark.

Some articles begin by stating that these terms are different, but when they enlarge on the definitions they also end up talking about empathy as a higher version of sympathy. They talk of empathy as an understanding of the other person's plight. As soon as you begin thinking of the sorry situation of another person you are simply sympathizing with the person.

The first point to understand is that empathy and sympathy both have to do with feelings. Both have as their root the word "pathos," which means a quality that evokes pity or sadness. The difference between the two terms is in how the feelings are felt or expressed.

Sympathy is a sharing of feelings with someone. When feeling sorry for someone people share the feelings of the other person, to the extent that a sympathetic person may shed tears for the other person. Sympathy, then, is a compassion for someone.

It is important to realize that sympathy can only be felt for someone you like or feel sorry for. It is almost impossible to feel sympathetic toward someone you dislike. And you cannot sincerely be sympathetic toward someone whose actions cause harm to someone.

Empathy has to do with feeling but it is not necessary that you feel pity for the other person. What it means is that you identify with the other person. The phrase commonly used is "intellectual identification." To see a person crying for some reason may not bring tears to your eyes, yet you are able to understand the feelings that cause the other person to weep.

Rather than getting emotional about the other person's emotions you project yourself into the other person's situation. This requires imagination. That is why empathy

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