Empathy:
1 : the
imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object
appears to be infused with it
2 : the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive
to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of
another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and
experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also
: the capacity for this (Merriam
Webster Online)
"Empathy" is similar to the Judaic and Christian imperative to "love the stranger" or to "love the stranger as you love yourself".
Compare to the opposite: The Other