Empathy and the Art of Inseeing

Empathy is a word often heard in today’s world, as in we need more of it. It is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.”

I was intrigued to learn about the origin of this word in this Brain Pickings article. To summarize, the word empathy came into being in the late 1860’s when philosopher Theodor Lipps wondered why art affects us so powerfully. He hypothesized that the impact of a piece of art isn’t in the work itself but rather, is found in the act of viewing. This was...