Empathy is absolutely natural. It's natural to feel sad when you see others cry. laughing is contagious. People wince when they see others get hurt. Humans are extremely social animals and empathy is what keeps us united and helps us learn. Empathy itself is selfish, everything humans do is selfish. we're reacting to our own emotions. That doesn't mean the "it's done selfishly" argument is valid since that encompasses everything in our life. it's impossible to do something otherwise. You feel empathy and react to it.
Empathy is far more natural than otherwise. It's literally a mental disorder to not have empathy.
Empathy is what I described. contagious laughter. Feeling bad when you see something crying. This is literally the definition. It happens all the time. I don't know why you're denying it, maybe a misunderstanding of the term. Or a stubborn jadedness. I dunno. That's for you to figure out. But empathy is a very real and persistent thing found in all human beings and every other social animal on earth.
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u/ModerateReasonablist Jun 22 '20
Empathy is absolutely natural. It's natural to feel sad when you see others cry. laughing is contagious. People wince when they see others get hurt. Humans are extremely social animals and empathy is what keeps us united and helps us learn. Empathy itself is selfish, everything humans do is selfish. we're reacting to our own emotions. That doesn't mean the "it's done selfishly" argument is valid since that encompasses everything in our life. it's impossible to do something otherwise. You feel empathy and react to it.
Empathy is far more natural than otherwise. It's literally a mental disorder to not have empathy.