Talk:Empathic concern

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Untitled[edit]

Surely there is more to be said on this topic in terms of collective behaviour and socialism.

Feelings[edit]

"To empathize is to respond to another's perceived emotional state by experiencing feeling of a similar sort. Empathic concern or sympathy not only include empathizing, but also entails having a positive regard or a non-fleeting concern for the other person."

I'd like to improve this paragraph, but I wonder whether empathy occurs with respect to the perception of others' "emotional states" only, and what precisely is the relation between emotional states and feelings. I wonder, too, whether one can sympathize with another without a "positive regard" for the other, and what "concern" means. If I watch somebody blow out the candles on a birthday cake, must I have a persistent "concern" for him in order to experience even a fleeting sympathy? If I see a flashbulb go off (or a pie thrown) in the face of somebody for whom I have a negative "regard", why can't I sympathize with him anyway? Unfree (talk) 06:32, 13 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]