Empathy and Sympathy

Empathy, as explained in class, is the intellectual identification or vicarious experience of the feelings/thoughts/attitudes of another or the experience of understanding another person's condition from their perspective. Sympathy as also explained in class, is the feeling of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune. It is possible to empathize with someone when you've never experienced something similar, if someone kills another person, you're able to empathize with their guilt even though you've never killed anyone It is also possible to empathize with someone when you don't agree with their choice, like if they killed someone and you think they shouldn't have, although you can still put yourself in their shoes and empathize with the guilt of killing someone. It is important to empathize especially in history so people know the pain and struggles that people suffered in different points of history, and are able to overcome and learn from it.