Empathy and Compassion

Abstract

Can we know what another is feeling? Ask a nonphilosopher (and many a philosopher), and, if your audience deigns to produce more than a pained expression, the answer will be an impatient affirmation. That - minus the impatience - is my answer too. Genuinely questioning whether we can know what others think and feel is a sign of insanity. Nonetheless, I contend that we often think we know what another thinks and feels when in fact we do not. Knowing how another thinks and feels can be, and often is, a difficult achievement and our efforts in this regard are often at best only partially successful. Others are far more opaque to us than we may suppose.

Keywords: Philosophy, Empathy, Compassion, Other Minds, Deception Argument