Are empathy and sincerity synonyms

Answer 1

No, they are not.

Empathy (from German Einfühlung, literally 'one contact' / 'one feeling', and Greek empatheia, 'passion, emotional state') means having fellow-feeling with respect to someone else's innermost and personal emotional response(s) to a matter.

Sincerity (from Latin sincerus, 'complete, whole, sound, clean, pure', and which basically means 'that which is not false') means having or demonstrating the quality of being genuine, honest, frank, free from pretense or deceit.

We can be very sincere (genuine and honest) when talking to others, but this does not necessarily mean that we personally know, understand or 'can relate' to their personal feelings.

On the other hand, someone who has empathy feels another person's pain(s) in their own heart.

For example, a man whose wife is having a baby may be sincere in his expressions of love and concern for her, but it will be unlikely that he has the capacity to have full empathy with her in her condition.

One contrast

Sincerity is a quality a person may show but not have.

Empathy is a quality a person may have but not show.

SUMMARY

Empathy is the ability to fully sense another person's innermost thoughts and physical and emotional feelings.

Sincerity (i.e. 'without falsehood') is a genuineness shown by word and action.

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