Originally Posted by CCN
What about theory of mind? The absence of this is a characteristic of autism, and wouldn't empathy be connected to theory of mind?

Not everyone agrees. Some people with autism pass TOM tests with no trouble.

Simon Baron Cohen's work (asserting that autism is explained by lack of empathy and lack of TOM) has had a lot of press, so it's widely known, but not everyone in the scientific community agrees with it.

For example:
http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/16/6/311.abstract

Many Autistic people feel that not only is SB-C wrong, but his ideas are defamatory and dehumanizing. It is easy to find these critiques with Google.