ELIF: What’s the difference between sympathy and empathy? Why does it sometimes feel bad to receive sympathy from another person?

Question

ELIF: What’s the difference between sympathy and empathy? Why does it sometimes feel bad to receive sympathy from another person?

In: Other

Answer 1

Sympathy at least implies superiority of the giver to the receiver. A person without grief expresses sympathy to a person experiencing grief; a smart person expresses sympathy to a dumb person. Examples, for good or ill.

Empathy is more of a sharing among equals. One can empathize with a person experiencing grief because one has experienced grief one’s self or has otherwise achieved an understanding of it. A smart person recognizes gaps and flaws in his own intellect and can relate to a person who, overall, has fewer intellectuals gifts.