Pathos vs Compassion - What's the difference?
pathos | compassion |
The quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, especially that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality.
* 1874 , Thomas Hardy, Far From The Madding Crowd, 1874:
(rhetoric) A writer or speaker's attempt to persuade an audience through appeals involving the use of strong emotions such as pity.
(literature) An author's attempt to evoke a feeling of pity or sympathetic sorrow for a character.
(theology, philosophy) In theology and existentialist ethics following Kierkegaard and Heidegger, a deep and abiding commitment of the heart, as in the notion of "finding your passion" as an important aspect of a fully lived, engaged life.
Deep awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with the wish to relieve it
* 1849 , Robert Leighton (Archbishop of Glasgow), A practical commentary upon the first Epistle of St. Peter (page 47)
(obsolete) To pity.
* 1607 , , IV. i. 124:
As nouns the difference between pathos and compassion
is that pathos is the quality or property of anything which touches the feelings or excites emotions and passions, especially that which awakens tender emotions, such as pity, sorrow, and the like; contagious warmth of feeling, action, or expression; pathetic quality while compassion is deep awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with the wish to relieve it.As a verb compassion is
to pity.pathos
English
Noun
- His voice had a genuine pathos now, and his large brown hands perceptibly trembled.
Quotations
* (English Citations of "pathos")External links
* * * ("pathos" on Wikipedia)Anagrams
* ----compassion
English
Noun
- Oh! the unspeakable privilege to have Him for our Father, who is the Father of mercies and compassions , and those not barren, fruitless pityings, for He is withal the God of all consolations.
Synonyms
* empathy, pity, ruth, tenderheartedness, sorrow * kindness, heart, mercyDerived terms
* compassionate * compassion fatigueVerb
(en verb)- O heavens, can you hear a good man groan / And not relent, or not compassion him?
