Of WHAT is empathy an "attribute?" And if you don't know that, then how can you say it "crops up at random intervals?"
"Attributes" are manifestations of aspects of substantial Being. If you don't know what the substantial being is, then how could you even tell if it "cropped up" — i.e., became manifest in Reality at some frequency, be it "random," periodic, or according to some other temporal (or even eternal) measure — such that you can say you perceived its attribute(s)?
It's really a very basic question....
Thanks for writing, A_perfect_lady!
Okay, I have NO IDEA what you just said. This is why I sometimes compare you to a Scientologist. I know you think I'm just trying to tick you off, but I'm not: sometimes you and Matchett just seem to be speaking some code, or gibberish, and I don't get it. What's more, I don't think very highly of it. I pride myself on putting things simply and clearly. So I'll do my best to answer you, but as I said, I have no idea what you just said.
An attribute -- like empathy, for example -- is merely a characteristic. Like being artistic, or short-tempered, or lazy, or mathematically gifted. Some people have it to varying degrees. Many people lack it completely (we call them sociopaths.) Thing is, some animals have it too. We all have read the various weird stories about, say, a mother dog or cat who adopts young that are not her own. Sometimes they aren't even of the same species. We've seen animals bond with one another for reasons that don't seem related to either food or sex. But they display a love, compassion, concern, kindness, whatever you want to call it... that most believers associate with the human "soul," or with "God's goodness manifest in man."
This suggests to me two possibilities:
1) Some animals have "souls" (which is not supported in any religious tradition that I know of)
2) "Souls" are a human idea, made up like the idea that hearts are the source of love. A cultural construct that has no basis in reality.
The simplest answer is usually the right one.