Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Imagine

In our discussions of Theory of Mind and Reciprocity I have tried to put the adult issues in everyday language, that it involves putting oneself in another's shoes, seeing from another perspective, whether automatically or when cued. Today I ran across a Confucian saying that I think apt.  "Imagine my heart were yours."

Update: That may refer more strictly to empathy. I use Theory of Mind to include both emotional perspectives and cognitive perspectives, but many use ToM to refer solely to cognitive. I think I need to be more careful about this.

1 comment:

Donna B. said...

The Confucian saying seems selfish to me, the opposite of my understanding of empathy (which could be very wrong). It works for sympathy I suppose.