[jschwartzi]

Look, if I'm managing someone I need to understand why asking them to work weekends upsets them. Being able to do this doesn't automatically make me a sociopath. What would make me a sociopath is asking them to do it anyway and then leaving early to go play golf. In other words not caring about them makes me a sociopath.

Sympathy requires you to feel the emotions of others which is often done to an unhealthy degree. Understanding how someone feels and feeling how they feel are different and should be treated with different words. It's good to work to understand others, but that doesn't mean you have to become them. And just because I don't share your feelings it doesn't mean I don't think they're valid. It just means I'm not you and I'm free to make my own choices.

I will often still choose to help you, but I'm not taking ownership of your problem.

[gt_]

feeling sympathy for another != feeling first-person experience

feeling sympathy != taking responsibility

The difference between the terms’ meanings is beyond mere emphasis, but it still falls short of occupying the subject’s bodily consciousness.

Look at the spectrum of bonds between family members for reference. Caring for one another to varying degrees is not so strange for most people. It is just becoming less common in public and business relationships.