Understanding Sympathy and Fellow Feeling

Sympathy and fellow feeling are explored as intentional acts, where one takes another's emotional state as an object rather than experiencing it as their own. This distinction is crucial because it clarifies that empathizing does not require replicating another's pain internally; instead, it involves acknowledging and understanding it from an external perspective. Schaler argues that founding ethics solely on the basis of sympathy proves inadequate, especially when considering situations where one might sympathize with wrongdoing. Instead, he presents an exploration of how people connect on different psychological levels, emphasizing the importance of genuinely understanding others while maintaining individuality.