(För introduktion till denna serie bloggtexter, se http://blog.perspectus.se/?p=693)
14. Empathy and Compassion
Ability to relate to others, oneself and nature with kindness, empathy and compassion and the intention to address related suffering.
We have chosen to use both empathy and compassion as concepts with somewhat different connotations. There are different conceptualizations in the literature, and it might be wise to keep the definitions rather open. Empathy is here understood to be the capacity to relatively accurately understand and feel into what other people feel, whereas compassion adds the quality of wanting to relate to other people with benevolence. Empathy and compassion are, of course, important components in emotional intelligence (see e.g. Eklund & Meranius, 2021).
Related concepts that were mentioned in the survey were benevolence, agreeableness and love.