noun: the ability to understand how someone feels because you can imagine what it is like to be them
noun: understanding and entering into another's feelings
"Here we view empathy as a multidimensional construct to account for the sense of sharing and understanding the subjective experience of others. Thus empathy includes aspects of emotion communication, self-awareness and theory of mind." The empathic brain and its dysfunction in psychiatric populations: implications for intervention across different clinical conditions
The two terms (sympathy/empathy) are very close in concept. The term 'sympathy' is/was used in science/physics to describe a specific physical state or condition. This being the case it (sympathy) has its very certain place in SVP. Empathy seems to be used mostly in describing an emotional state or condition. As always words, terms and phrases are subject to whatever context in which they are used.
Bill Bullard
"Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge; it requires no accountability, no understanding. Oedipus is full of opinions, full of voice, and they get him into deep trouble. The highest form of knowledge, according to George Eliot, is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound, purpose larger than the self kind of understanding. Empathy for his town and for his family is Oedipus’ great achievement, and it is an immediate consequence of his integrity. And if the play works, if catharsis means anything, the lasting emotion of the play is our empathy for Oedipus. Our experiencing through pity and fear the pain and the final self‐possession of the man. If we can leave the play with our strong judgments and opinions replaced by empathy, the experience has saved and deepened us." [Commencement Speech by Bill Bullard]
See Also
empath
Knowing
Love
Mind to Mind
Sympathetic
Sympathy
Understanding