A Comparative Study of Sympathy in David Hume, Karuna in Buddhism, and Ren in Confucianism

Empathy is a capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference. It means stepping into somebody’s shoes. The meaning of sympathy in David Hume is equal to empathy in academic study. In Eastern philosophy there are two terms, which are highly similar to empathy in the Western perspective: karuna in Buddhism and ren in Confucianism. Karuna is a core emotional state in Bodhisattva to express empathy. Ren is a core concept in Confucianism. It starts with Ce yin zi xin, which is similar to empathy. The goal of his thesis is to share the common ground of these terms and find out their differences according to historical context, cognition, emotion, and action dimensions.