In my last two blogs I discussed empathy and suggested that it may take different forms. Here I expand on those ideas and compare sympathy, empathy, and compassion. I take it as axiomatic that it is not possible to achieve what I have called true empathy. In other words, because one cannot fully understand another’s […]
Category: Jeff Aronson’s Words
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Empathy—fact and fiction
The English suffix -pathy comes from the Greek -παθεια. Vary the prefix, vary the feeling: ἀντιπάθεια – suffering instead, contrary affection, aversion (ἀντί = opposite, against); εὐπάθεια – ease, sensitivity to impressions; in the plural, luxuries (εὐ = well, thoroughly); περιπάθεια – violent passion, indignation (περί = around, near, concerning, beyond); προπάθεια –anticipation; in the […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . A word about empathy
Empathy is becoming a 21st century biomedical fashion, judging by the number of papers on the subject (figure). But the concept is not new. The word is first recorded in English in the Philosophical Review in 1895, in a summary by E L Hinman of a paper by Kurd Lasswitz, a Kantean philosopher and science […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Phlegmatic
The second of Galen’s four fluid humours of the body, φλέγμα, was associated, when in supposed excess, with a phlegmatic temperament, “not easily excited to feeling or action; stolidly calm, self-possessed, imperturbable; sluggish, apathetic, lacking enthusiasm” (OED). Although this sounds dull, the ultimate origin of the word is the IndoEuropean root BHEL, associated with verbs […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Drugs and medicaments
When is a drug not a drug? The word “drug” first appeared, in various forms, in Middle French and English in the late 14th century, without recorded antecedents. It originally meant “any substance, of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin, used as an ingredient in pharmacy, chemistry, dyeing, or various manufacturing processes” (Oxford English Dictionary). It […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Sanguine—hopeful, not bloody minded
The first of Galen’s four fluid humours of the body, αἷμα, blood, was associated with the temperament that came to be known as sanguine, from the equivalent Latin word, sanguis. Sanguis meant the fluid that flows from wounds, the blood that colours the face red, bloodshed, as in battle or sacrifice, life blood or the […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Lecturing
A lecture of the type that I am used to giving is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “a discourse given before an audience upon a given subject, usually for the purpose of instruction”, although I always keep in mind the BBC’s mission statement, originally formulated by John Reith, their first Director–General, “to inform, […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Mind your temper
According to Galen, whose views influenced the practice of medicine for hundreds of years, each of the four fluid humours of the body, αἷμα, blood, φλέγμα, phlegm, χολή, [yellow] bile, and μέλαινα χολή, black bile, was associated with a mood, called a temperament: sanguine (optimistic), phlegmatic (stoical), choleric (irascible), and melancholic (depressive). Others described other […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Humours and humour
Two blogs ago, I mentioned the current interest in cupping among celebrities such as Olympic athletes and actors. There are surely easier and safer ways to obtain a placebo effect. The mechanistic theory that originally underpinned therapies in Western medicine, such as cupping, blistering, bloodletting, emesis, and purging, was that of the four humours, which […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Junior
The President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh has asked Jeremy Hunt, the secretary of state for health (the SoSH), in a letter that also dealt with other more important matters, to find a less pejorative term to describe “junior” or “trainee” doctors, since “they are highly skilled, dedicated professionals and should be […]