Difference between "empathy/sympathy" and "love"

[FrostHeart]

Because sometimes we thought a person loves us but in reality they're just naturally nice and warm to everyone and just showing empathy. Others say that empathy could be a sign of love or at least you're important to a person.

[Hanamaru Kunikida]

You just answered your own question about empathy. And about love, when you love someone, you are willing to put yourself on the line for them, you always going to be there for that person.

[Aku no Hikari]

Empathy: the ability to recognize and feel what someone else feels
Example: Feeling sad/happy/etc. when you see someone feeling sad/happy/etc. in a movie.

Sympathy: standing with someone out of understanding their feelings or being concerned about them
Example: supporting human rights, helping a distressed person out, etc.

Love: feeling strong affection towards someone or something
There are too many types of "love" to list examples. But it could be anything from loving abstract concepts, to loving something you enjoy, to loving family members or friends, to "falling in love", to "loving" someone in bed.


Clearly, they are different things. Not that they do not overlap.

[FrostHeart]

Yep, I'm aware that they're all different, the main problem is, how would you know if it's true love or not. If the feelings of empathy and sympathy of the other person are just making a false hope in your mind about him/her being in love with you. I just typed 'sympathy/empathy' not because I think they're the same, but because I'm grouping them into one under the 'not true love' category.

[Anoleis]

Yep, I'm aware that they're all different, the main problem is, how would you know if it's true love or not.

Because true love is crap, spread by Hollywood and poorly written romance novels, that makes people all warm and fuzzy on the inside, but severely inhibits their common sense.

[Miss Moonlight]

A lot of people get Empathy and Sympathy confused, but they are not the same, as Aku no Hikari pointed out.

I'll expand more later, don't have enough time to make a lengthy post.

[Sympathy]

if she lets you put two in the pink and one in the stink, she truly loves you.

[ZombieWolf2508]

Empathy, sympathy, and love are two completely different.

Scientifically, love is nothing more than a series of chemical reactions in the brain.

Anyway, just because someone shows sympathy or empathy towards you doesn't mean they love you. Tbh, people who show lots of sympathy are usually people that seem desperate for attention. They show sympathy to make themselves look better and to feel special. But I digress. What we feel as love is often mistaken not for sympathy or empathy, but for infatuation. But each person is different and loves differently. None of us can tell you how to recignize actual love, as we all feel differently about it and have different definitions of it. To me, if you can't imagine a future without the person, if they're literally always on your mind, if talking to that person is the only thing you look forward to, if sex is the last thing on your mind, and if you feel a massive build up of energy whenever you think of them, then you're in love. That's my definition, though it'll differ from almost everyone here. And if people tell you you're too young to know what real love is- don't listen to them. Anyone can understand love, it requires intelligence and mental maturity, not physical age.

[sunnyside]

Yep, I'm aware that they're all different, the main problem is, how would you know if it's true love or not. If the feelings of empathy and sympathy of the other person are just making a false hope in your mind about him/her being in love with you. I just typed 'sympathy/empathy' not because I think they're the same, but because I'm grouping them into one under the 'not true love' category.

I think you confused everybody with your OP if this is what you're really asking.

To clarify, you're trying to figure out how to tell if someone loves you as opposed to just being nice to you because of empathy or sympathy or something.

I guess then the question becomes what sort of love. There are very different types. I'm given to understand languages other than English do a better job of having different words. It seems ridiculous to use the same word to describe my feelings for my wife and my feelings toward cheeseburgers.

[Mystelinth]

Thanks for rezz, pls put on cooldown forever.