Altruis As An Altruistic Person

Altruism is a concept in which the individual sacrifices regard for themselves in the interest of another. The ethics of altruism state that a person should act in a matter where their self-sacrifice yields the greater well being on the whole. To put that statement in the form of a fundamental principle of rightness, an action is right if and only if (and because) the action brings a net-gain of well being to anyone except the individual performing the action. The altruistic mentality of an individual according to this moral theory means that any action that they undertake should be in the interest of others rather than themselves. The ethics of this concept also state that relationships of greater value to the individual carrying out an action should come second in priority to those they have with strangers since the close relationship has a much more meaningful connection to a person’s life. In these situations, the only morally correct way of acting is in the way that defeats the well being of the agent of an action for the sake of others.

Bartel (1976) defines prosocial behaviour as ‘behaviour that intentionally helps or benefits another person’. Batson (1987) defines altruism as ‘helping another person for no reward, and even at some cost to oneself.’ This definition of altruism seemingly depicts the behaviour as selfless, however there is a wealth of research which suggests that this is not the case.

In Sally Satel 's “When Altruism Isn 't Moral” discusses the problem with the outrageous expectation the healthcare system has for organ donation and reception. Satel says “it is lethally obvious that altruism is not a valid basis for transplant policy. If we keep thinking of organs solely as gifts, there will never be enough of them.” I agree with Satel; the social requirements that a donor has to meet before being able to donate an organ is too restricted and is one of the many issues with our current mindset when it come to the care of the dying. As well as having obnoxious requirements in the altruism-only system of donating, the actual system is faulty. This altruism-only system causes social dilemmas and problems not unlike the ones that people fear with a compensation/incentive donation program.

Altruism: “Devotion to the welfare of others, regard for others, as a principle of action; opposed to egoism or selfishness” (Britannica Online, 2008). Altruism is taking care of

Altruism, also known as selflessness, is one of the most puzzling topics in the public domain today. The main issue from the perspective of many scholars is how altruism can be effective. Even though many people get involved in lifelong altruism, only a few of them emerge to be effective in it. What could be the reason behind this? And what makes altruism such a common issue that everyone needs to engage in it? The producer, Peter Singer, puts on important points that give more light on the urgency of the altruism to the younger generation and how to make it effective in the long run.

altruistic, the vast majority of people fall somewhere on a spectrum of egotism. With this in

With that being said, the two doubts about altruism being a good thing should be explained. First of all, altruistic acts are not always morally good. Imagine the organ donor being racist and this person wishes to donate or sell their organs, but only to a recipient of their own ethnicity. This person is doing an altruistic act but not a truly moral one. Certainly there are different ways in which an altruistic act could be considered wrong. Here are a couple of examples: The person who is doing the altruist act may be doing damage about

Many acts of war occur under desperate circumstances, leading people to act out against their conscience and do immoral things. On August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs onto the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, destroying about 90 percent of each city. Ironically, the nuclear weaponry was originally built in self-defense against Germany, where an attempt at creating an atomic bomb was made, but ultimately failed, leaving the United States as the first and only country with nuclear weaponry. Upon the dropping of the bomb in Nagasaki, eighty thousand people died instantly, and tens of thousands died later on from the radioactive fallout. A Japanese newspaper, called The Nippon Times, questions why the bomb was

The current political atmosphere has brought about a renewal in the interest of the works of Ayn Rand. The Russian-American novelist has once again been thrust into the limelight for a new generation of readers and political thinkers. Her ideas have been lauded in the Wall Street Journal and Fox News, and like many things these days, has had her ideas bent to meet certain political agendas. Much like Lenin used the ideas of Marx and Engels, the political right has used Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead to push for their version of what America should be.

For my random act of kindness, I helped a stranger who ran out of gas on the highway. A young woman riding a bicycle waived my husband and me down in front of the Support Site gate. She began to explain to us that she had run out of gas on the highway near the Carinaro exit, and needed assistance getting to the closest gas station. Usually, I am a naturally suspicious person and would have made up some reason for not being able to help her but this time I figured why not. The women got into my car and we began heading to the nearest gas station. During our ride, we exchanged pleasantries and made small talk.

Altruism can be defined as the act of making a sacrifice without any interest for the sake of another person or animal.

Altruism is when the actions of a person promote the best consequences for others, yet do not benefit the person who performed the act. Abruzzi and McGandy (2006) explain that Auguste Comte developed the term to support his ethical stance that humans are morally obliged to serve the interests of others,

Altruism refers to the concern for the welfare and well being of others without personal gains or

“It combines both the heart and the head. The heart feels the empathy, and it is important to use the head also to see if it is effective and well directed. And not only that, reason helps us understand that other people, like us, wherever they are, they can suffer as we can. And as important as well beings matter to us, it matter to them.” 1 Peter Singer gives a speech of ‘the why and how of the effective altruism.’ One of the interesting fact he mentions in his video is that there are two choices for a certain amount of money $40,000 can be used either training a guide dog for one person in the United States or Curing more than 400 people in the developing countries. There is one growing movement called effective altruism which can help deciding which choice is better by reasoning. The effective altruism is a movement to make the biggest difference in each moment, and it considers all lives as equal. So by the view of the effective altruism, because more people will be helped with their sight, the money $40,000 will be used more effectively if it is used for 400 or more people who struggle with their sight problem than the money used to train a guide dog for one person in the United States. I first support the idea of the effective altruism that making the most difference in any given situation would be the best choice. Instead of saving 200 people with less-cost-effective treatment, with more-cost-effective

First, it is important to understand what altruism is. Altruism is any act carried out by an individual in order to benefit another individual. [1, 2] At first glance,