Is empathy outdated?

[jerryg]

I think it depends on the person.  Because when you hear about chickens in cages, a common complaint is "How would you like it if you were stuck in a cage your whole life."  The person making that argument is empathizing with the chickens.  Now, she's not actually feeling what the chicken is feeling, but she thinks she is.  She's saying "If I were in a cage, that would make me feel bad.  So now I know how the chicken is feeling."  

Which is another interesting aspect of empathy.  I've described it before as someone's ability to make everything about themselves.  By relating every experience in the world to themselves, they become more invested in every experience in the world.  

But if you want to separate sympathy and empathy, that's fine.  pretend I said "Are sympathy and empathy outdated."  I don't think it's too big a deal for an informal discussion.

When you start a thread discussing empathy how you feel it's outdated, then you cite an example, it's very important to have facts straight. 

I have ideas in my head, and unfortunately, I can't get them to other people without using words.  I sort of accept that it's like doing a Swedish to English translation where what I'm thinking of may not have a precise match in the english language.  But in super informal settings like this, I'm just shooting for people to get the gist of what I'm getting at, and see how that goes.  

So while sympathy and empathy may be two separate ideas in the English language, in the original text my brain came up with, the distinction is not particularly important.

To which you rightly say "That cuts the discussion of at the knees!  We can't get anywhere if we don't have precise language."  Which is true, but I'm not that worried about it, again, as this is just recreational thinking.  And I'm more interested about planting a general idea, and seeing what other people think (regardless of interpretation).  I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, or argue a side.  Just chatting about nonsense with some internet strangers