Fascinating article, it was a pleasure to read! I learned something new, certainly. I am otherwise only familiar with empathy from philosophy.
The other thing you refer to – concept vs. actual reality, if I understand you correctly – is, of course, a very valid and big debate in linguistics; prescriptive definitions vs. descriptive definitions. That is why I linked the OED, since it is a historical dictionary. Or do you mean philosophical concept vs. physical reality?
My comment was about that prescriptive, philosophical definition of the word. But the study you link shows that empathy is, indeed, much bigger than that.
Really I didn’t want to criticize the person I replied to, though – just share the origin of empathy (the word). But thank you for providing a far more detailed explanation of what it actually is!
Fascinating article, it was a pleasure to read! I learned something new, certainly. I am otherwise only familiar with empathy from philosophy.
The other thing you refer to – concept vs. actual reality, if I understand you correctly – is, of course, a very valid and big debate in linguistics; prescriptive definitions vs. descriptive definitions. That is why I linked the OED, since it is a historical dictionary. Or do you mean philosophical concept vs. physical reality?
My comment was about that prescriptive, philosophical definition of the word. But the study you link shows that empathy is, indeed, much bigger than that.
Really I didn’t want to criticize the person I replied to, though – just share the origin of empathy (the word). But thank you for providing a far more detailed explanation of what it actually is!