Compassion

Compassion is the feeling that arises when we perceive the suffering of another being and that moves us to relieve, reduce or prevent it. It differs from empathy, which is feeling as another feels, and from sympathy, which is feeling towards another; compassion combines an understanding of another's pain with the desire and will to act.

The word comes from the Latin compassio, a semantic loan from the Greek sympátheia, built from syn ('with') and páschō ('to suffer'): literally, 'to suffer together'. That etymology captures the core idea: the pain of the other is in some sense experienced as one's own. In philosophy it has often been regarded as a moral virtue, and it holds a central place in almost all the great religious traditions. Buddhism makes it the basic spiritual attitude toward every living being, and the monotheistic religions of Semitic origin ascribe to divine mercy a decisive role.

Arthur Schopenhauer placed compassion at the heart of morality: for him, moral action rests on recognizing another's suffering as one's own, so that egoism gives way to identification with the other. Giacomo Leopardi, by contrast, stressed its link to the shared condition of pain: in the face of common suffering, pity for others appears as the only worthy response. Aristotle had already noted that we feel compassion for those who suffer without deserving it.

The concept admits several readings. Some authors treat it as a variant of love or sadness; others see it as a distinct emotion, distinguishable from distress. There is also debate about its relation to power: whoever pities may place themselves above the one who suffers, which is why many people today resist being pitied and prefer solidarity among equals. As an everyday example, staying with a friend in grief without trying to fix their pain, yet doing something concrete to ease it, expresses compassion in its fullest form.