Empathy

"Empathy depends not only on one's ability to identify someone else's emotions but also on one's capacity to put oneself in the other person's place and to experience an appropriate emotional response" 

-Charles G. Morris

"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eye for an instant?"

-Henry David Thoreau

Empathy is something that few people master. Most of us can feel empathy to some level, sociopaths being the major exception, but few of us truly master the art of stepping into someone else's shoes and feeling what they're feeling. 

Empathy is what allows us to live together in a society without ripping each other's throats out. It is a skill we have developed over millennia, and many would say it is a skill that sets us appart from animals. Now, is this true? Are animals incapable of empathy? The answer to this question is no, it is not true that animals are incapable of empathy.

A very clear example is provided by a study that took place recently in the University of Chicago. In this experiment scientists sought to find out wether a rat would release a fellow rat from an extremely unpleasant cage if it could. The answer was yes. The free rat responded to the occasional distress calls uttered by its compatriot, it learned to open the cage, and became more and more efficient at it over time. The free rat would release his companion even if he wasn't rewarded with a reunion afterwards. The most astonishing aspect brought to light by the experiment was the fact that the rat, given a ration of chocolate chips, would save one or two for his companion and would give them to him when he released him. The unavoidable conclusion that the researchers came to was that what they were witnessing was empathy.

Now, think about it. We're talking about a rat here: A RAT. We consider rats to be some of the filthiest and less lovable animals. We associate rats with cheaters and betrayers, and they, generally, have a very bad reputation. If we can see this level of empathy in a rat, this level of caring and understanding, why do we think animals cannot display empathy? Why do we believe we're superior to animals?