Empathetic means Showing empathy for others, and recognizing their feelings Critical listening is when you listen, and evaluate
Empathetic listening is very similar to what psychologists refer to as "active listening" whereby you repeat back to the person what you think she or he said to make certain you understand. Another technique is to ask how the person feels about the situation or perhaps to make a statement about how you believe the person feels. Empathetic listening is characterized by a genuine desire to understand the words and the emotions of the messages communicated by others.
However, critical listening occurs when you still want to understand what the other person is saying, but also have some reason or responsibility to evaluate what is being said to you and how it is being said. For example, if there's an upcoming election and you need to decide who to vote for, you probably use some form of critical listening when you watch a televised debate. You listen, AND you evaluate.
