Rogers' concept of empathy is seen as one of the fundamental in almost all schools of psychotherapy. But to fully understand his concept, careful examination of his works is needed. As he often described his concept in abstract ways, and as he preferred to write about psychotherapeutic attitude, rather than concrete technique, there is much room for misreading. We reviewed the vicissitude of his concept of empathy through his major works, and then examined it from the viewpoint of Hoffman's concept of role-taking.