AXIOMETRIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF EMPATHY Adina Bortă ADINA BORTĂ holds a degree in Mathematics (1993) from “Al.I. Cuza” University of Iasi, Romania and a BA in Psychology (2002) from Babes.Bolyai University Cluj.Napoca, Romania. Adina taught Mathematics in traditional and progressive schools in Romania and UK for seven years before switching to adult learning and development in organizations and the business environment. Adina is a certified psychotherapist and a certified coach. She works with people in private practice as well as in business organizations, educational and non.profit organizations. Adina is a member both of the Global Board of Directors and the European Board of Directors of Robert S Hartman Institute. She is also a member of the Association for Clinical Hypnosis, Relaxation and Ericksonian Psychotherapy and a member of SOL World – Solution Focused Practice in Organizations. More information about Adina’s work can be found at www.adinaborta.com . Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Adina at: adina@adinaborta.com . Abstract Axiology, the Value Science developed by Robert S. Hartman, offers through the Hartman Value Profile direct measures of patterns of valuing, abilities, beliefs, attitudes, and human motivation that have not been integrated into the body of psychological knowledge yet. The present paper explores the two perspectives – axiological and psychological – on the concept of “empathy.” The theoretical background is followed by a series of four correlation studies on empathy related measures associated with the two models. The studies do not find a significant correlation between the chosen measures, yet they revealed significant correlations – some of them unexpected – with some other scales which in turn holds promising potentials for further research: a) by offering evidence for one limitation embedded in the design of the psychological measure of empathy, and b) by suggesting a possible link between one’s axiological profile and one’s preferred strategy for exercising empathy. Empathy has a special place on the axiological map and pervades much of all interpersonal interactions, abilities and activities. Within the psychological body of knowledge, although the history of the concept of empathy goes back as far as to 1873, the actual understanding and rigorous scientific study of it became possible only recently with the aid of neurosciences. Thus, it is possible now to explore deeper the concept of empathy through these double lens, of axiometry and psychology, as shown by the results of the present research. The model of formal axiology, as developed by Robert S. Hartman, became the object of study of many of his former philosophy students and to a lesser degree of psychologists, despite the unique tool that it offered to the field of applied psychology, namely the Hartman Value Profile. There is one foundational work,      , which presents a significant number of validation studies including construct validity, concurrent validity with well.established tests such as MMPI and Cattell 16PF and CAQ scales, cross national studies, and biomedical validity among other. Through his work Leon Pomeroy made highly important contributions to connecting axiology with psychology. I look forward to the