n.

1. Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.
2. Lack of emotion or feeling; impassiveness.

[Latin apathīa, from Greek apatheia, from apathēs, without feeling : a-, without; see a–¹ + pathos, feeling.]

noun

Lack of emotion or interest: disinterest, impassivity, incuriosity, incuriousness, indifference, insensibility, insensibleness, lassitude, lethargy, listlessness, phlegm, stolidity, stolidness, unconcern, uninterest, unresponsiveness. See feelings.

n

Definition: uncaring attitude, disinterested
Antonyms: care, concern, feeling, interest, passion, sensitivity, sympathy, warmth

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Although it is the particular enemy of teachers and sports coaches, apathy often gets a good philosophical press, especially in ethical systems that regard desire and worldly interest as low and unworthy. Plato recognizes the need for passion or eros even in the advanced contemplative state of the philosopher, but Hindu, Buddhist, Stoical and some Christian traditions have all looked askance at desire, equating the summum bonum with a kind of torpid vacuity. Hobbes shrewdly points out that while we live we have desires and Alexander Pope sides with the energetic: ‘In lazy Apathy let Stoics boast, Their Virtue fix'd; ‘tis fix'd as in a frost’ (An Essay on Man, ii). However, like Stoics and Buddhists, Kant found apathy to be particularly excellent: bliss is a state of ‘complete independence from inclinations and desires’ and this freedom is both itself a virtue and presupposed by other virtues. Aquinas, however, recognizes the desolation involved in turning away from what is good, and classifies it as a leading or capital sin. See accidie, ataraxia, autonomy/heteronomy, love.

Failure to respond emotionally to external stimuli.

IN BRIEF: Lacking feeling or emotion.

Nora's apathy was hard to take.

Quotes:

"I have a very strong feeling that the opposite of love is not hate -- it's apathy. It's not giving a damn." - Leo Buscaglia

"Mourn not the dead that in the cool earth lie, but rather mourn the apathetic, throng the coward and the meek who see the world's great anguish and its wrong, and dare not speak." - Ralph Chaplin

"Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on." - Frederic Chopin

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." - Albert Einstein

"Most human beings have an infinite capacity for taking things for granted." - Aldous Huxley

"We may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings." - Helen Keller

See more famous quotes about Apathy

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - apati, sløvsind, sløvhed, ligegladhed

Nederlands (Dutch)
lusteloosheid, onverschilligheid, apathie

Français (French)
n. - apathie, indifférence

Deutsch (German)
n. - Apathie, Teilnahmslosigkeit

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - απάθεια, ασυγκινησία

Italiano (Italian)
apatia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - apatia (f), indiferença (f), desinteresse (m)

Русский (Russian)
апатия, вялость

Español (Spanish)
n. - apatía, atonía

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - apati, likgiltighet

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
冷漠, 缺乏感情或兴趣

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 冷漠, 缺乏感情或興趣

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 무감정, 무관심

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 無感動, 無関心, 冷淡

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) لا مبالاه, فتور الشعور‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אדישות‬

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