Yes, one does not need to be an empath to have empathy for other humans, but there are empaths. Empaths are a subset of psychics. They can sense various energies and feel them emanating from others even without talking to them or observing them. And not all humans can have empathy. For example, many narcissists cannot have empathy. Some can fake it, which is cognitive empathy. They know what to say to appear empathetic toward someone but they aren't actually feeling it.