Empathy (from the Greek εμπάθεια, "to make suffer") is commonly defined as one's ability to recognize, perceive and directly feel the emotion of another. As the states of mind, beliefs, and desires of others are intertwined with their emotions, one with empathy for another may often be able to more effectively define another's mode of thought and mood. Empathy is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes", or experiencing the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself, a sort of emotional resonance.
The word 'empathy' is the late translation into English from the German 'Einfühlung'. This last word was coined by the philosopher Robert Vischer (1847-1933). First time Vischer defined even its specific meaning of aesthetic sympathy. This practically is the sentiment, not otherwise definable, which one feels in the face of a work of art. His father Friedrich Theodor Vischer had already made use of the evocative word 'einfühlen' in his studies about architecture, in accordance with the rules of the Idealism.