Genesis and development of empathy: formative factors involved

Abstract

This article aims to present partial results of a qualitative and ongoing research on the genesis of empathy and how it develops in childhood. The methodology used is the bibliographical review and the hermeneutical analysis. Research data allowed us to understand empathy as the natural ability of an individual to be touched by the emotional state of others. In addition, three other aspects of empathy emerged from the study. The first, derived from a historical-conceptual approach, allows us to understand empathy as an already known competence, primarily called 'sympathy', and related to the aesthetic experience of the human being. The second relates the genesis of empathy to two aspects: one related to studies with children, which detected the presence of empathy in infants, and another that comprises empathy in an evolutionary context, as a feature shared with other mammalian animals. The third aspect points to the possibility of forming empathy and other elements of human morality since birth. As empathy consists of a fundamental competence for human coexistence, present since birth, it is necessary and possible to promote it through family and school formation.