13195 - The notion of empathy

N. Lygeros, B. Tsatsampa
Translated from the Greek by Athena Kehagias

In the context of philosophy, the notion of empathy is essential at a global level. This notion is totally positive in French, as we see it in the Petit Robert dictionary,Empathie: En Philosophie et Psychologie, faculté de s’identifier à quelqu’un, de ressentir ce qu’il resent. The same applies in English, as seen in the Oxford Dictionary, Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Origin: From Greek empatheia (from em- ‘in’ + pathos ‘feeling’) translating German Einfühlung. Indeed, in this entry, we have proof that the Greek acted as an inspiration for the derivation. On the other hand, when we examine the current Greek word in the G.. Babiniotis dictionary which captures the present, we realize that it has a negative meaning, Empathy, intense dislike (against someone) that prevents an objective criticism, the expression of intense negative emotion. plus. intolerance, callousness, maliciousness, as opposed to, tolerance, gentleness. At this level, we can assume that the matter is set and that there are just different meanings in different languages. But things are different. Because if you look at the I. Stamatakis dictionary, we find a more positive notion, Empathic (em- in + pathos) the em +pathic, finds himself in the state of pathos (emotion), one, full of pathos, which follows the mental schema that exists in theLiddell & Scott dictionary, for the following words and expressions: empathy, empathetically, empathic, empathic friendship, empathetically [empathy, strong pathos – empathic, being in a state of emotion or pathos – empathetic, extremely emotional about something or someone,friendship reaching pathos, empathetically, with pathos. In this way it becomes perfectly understandable that the notion of the word empathy is positive and humane. Consequently, its current use is a form of degeneracy.This absurd situation can be resolved as a chronic paradox. Rather than just talking about the current meaning of the word, we can emphasize in its notion through timelessness . For this reason we use it in our texts and lectures, based on this idea. Moreover, we know that in linguistics and in lexicography, the use of a word or a neologism by several speakers and writers is recorded in the various versions of the entry. Consequently there is no reason for the non usage of the substance of the word, since it finally could be officially excepted to the next phase of the Greek language. And this is not regarding a new version, which could be characterized as arbitrary, but about the unfolding of the actual word, empathy.