L’attendrissement dans la compassion et la pitié

Abstract

Through a lexical-based analysis, this article examines the points of similarity and, above all, of divergence, in the production of the feelings of compassion or pity. It starts with an investigation based on the dictionary entries of different Romance languages in order to infer the semes that constitute each passionate nucleus, as well as the elements of the process of discourse configuration. By unfolding the narrative structure underlying every lexeme-affection, we illuminate what determines two modes of different affective interactions through the same predicative scene : a more sensitive one, which pertains to a “feeling with”, and a more intelligible one, typical of a “feeling for”nh v.

Keywords

• affective interaction
• compassion
• emotion
• pity