The Chronicle of Higher Education

Do Humans Alone 'Feel Your Pain'?

By FRANS B.M. de WAAL

Once upon a time, the United States had a president known for a peculiar facial display. In an act of controlled emotion, he would bite his lower lip and tell his audience: "I feel your pain." Whether the display was sincere is not the issue here; being affected by another's predicament is. Empathy is second nature to us, so much so that anyone devoid of it strikes us...

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