Thanks to Steve Hartman, in 2020, for suggesting some ideas for improving the scope of scientific Ethics. The first of these is what we shall speak of as AF. The second concept is abbreviated EMP; which stands for Empathy. Let us begin by explaining AF.
Altruistic feeling [or AF for short] is caring about the happiness of another more than your own short-term happiness… When you do this, if when you are kind to someone else you feel that you get more in return than you gave …you get this good feeling; that is AF. If giving away something makes you happier than getting something then you have AF. In this sense, selfless acts often boomerang back to the one who acts kindly. That is how AF is understood in Ethics: in a sense “giving and receiving are the same” for the one who experiences AF.
Empathy, or EMP, is understanding and sharing another person’s feelings. To “walk in their shoes” is a metaphor for imagining their position. If, for example, you encounter a homeless person and you say to yourself, “What if that were me?” then you have EMP. Many a mother says about her child: “Whatever my child feels, I feel. If my child is in pain, I feel pain; if my child experiences joy, then I am joyful ” That is EMP. Brain neurologists explain this in terms of ‘mirror neurons.”
If, in a crowded room one person laughs, many others in that room also laugh. If someone yawns, we notice others yawning as well. We see this happening at a young age, even with babies and toddlers: If one of them starts to cry, another will get into a depressed mood also, and their eyes will tear up. This is a common display of EMP. Empathy [or EMP for short] is the imagining, or a capacity to imagine, the thought, feeling, or experience of another without actually having that experience.
Compassion – we learn from Webster’s Dictionary - refers to both an understanding of another’s pain and the desire to somehow mitigate that pain. It entails a strong identification with another creature …whether or not a member of one’s own species.
Do you have any suggestions or ideas on these, or related, topics? Help us out here with your clarifications or similar breakthroughs. Okay?