Altruism : Is The Good? Us? Altruism?

Humans are prenatally motivated to help those around us due to its evolutionary benefits that our species has a better chance of survival if all cooperate. Humans can also be nurtured to exhibit altruistic behavior through good parenting. Although most of the population agrees that altruism benefits society, scientific research has shown that even those who believe they are altruistic are not when they are put in situations which calls for selfless behavior. One phenomena that refutes the claim that most of the population strives for selfless behavior is known as the bystander effect. The bystander effect is when a person feels less responsible for doing selfless acts when they are in an environment of a group of

Altruism, despite the fact that a human conduct, needs extraordinary expressions to convey what needs be on all levels of unselfishness, for example, love and regard, since benevolence is regularly mistaken for any benevolent conduct made by living animals, and we should not utilize this general term to depict specific practices and behaviours.

4. Altruism - opportunity to rise out of oneself and help somebody else; the feeling of usefulness. Altruism was discussed in Step 12.

Philosophers have debated for centuries the question “Are humans are selfish or selfless?” There are two main arguments for debating human nature, ethical egoists and ethical altruists. Ethical egoists believe that “even though we can act in others’ interests because we are concerned for others, we ought always to act in our own interest” (Solomon et al 2012 p. 460). Ethical altruists believe quite the opposite; ethical altruism is the belief that “people ought to act with each other’s interests in mind” (Solomon et al 2012 p. 461). In discussing the four theories, psychological egoism, psychological altruism, ethical egoism, and ethical altruism, with my husband, there was not a clear dividing line for whether humans are selfish or selfless in nature. After much debate, we concluded that humans are born ethical egoists; however, ethical altruists are made through proper training, care, and nurture.

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 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

Altruism, in which one selflessly devotes to the welfare of another without expecting anything in return, often elicits an inexplicable and intangible surge of joy, in which one gains a sense of purpose. For example, I have observed the therapists at PRANA, whom altruistically devote up to an hour, when initially only allotted a half-hour time slot, programming individualized treatments for each patient. In their hour- long treatments, they create a non-fraternizing relationship with their patients that is fully functional on trust, empathy, and generosity. Devoting that extra time to each patient gives not only the

Further, another form for caring is altruism this is characterized as helping others without any benefits in return. Altruism is acting to enhance an individual’s welfare regardless of the actions and consequences that can be brought upon oneself.

Egoism works against the idea that it is possible for humans to perform truly altruistic acts and that instead, even seemingly unselfish deeds stem from a selfish desire. It is true that satisfaction can be found in selfless actions; however, English philosopher Joseph Butler presents the idea that there is a spectrum of self-interest where both egoism and altruism exist and that benevolence does not conflict with self-love. Although egoism considers all desires to be selfish, this is not necessarily true as many desires stem from a want to help others. Butler’s argument is that there is desire present in altruistic acts, but the desire is not due to self-interests, rather, it is a genuine desire to do something good. Therefore, a person can feel satisfaction from doing a good deed, but that does not make the action egoistic since the original intention was still to only ensure the well-being of someone else. This means that humans are not wired to only consider their own self-interest, but that also will consider the interest of others, and will perform acts to do so. An example of this is love, where it is argued that love is a need for humans and thus, a selfish desire. However, since there is no actual benefit to survival that a human could receive from loving another, it should be considered altruistic because now the well-being of another person is being prioritized over their own.

Many have defined altruism in a similar context, a special form of helping behaviour that is “an act that is motivated by the desire to benefit another individual rather than oneself” (Hogg &Vaughan, 2008). An altruistic act does not necessarily have a negative or zero value to the actor (Margolis, 1982) but a true altruistic act is detrimental to the actor's fitness and enhances another individual’s fitness, in other words, a selfless act (Batson, 1991). Throughout the evolution of altruism, there have been many controversies about the existence of true altruism. Most theories have argued that it stems from ulterior motives, but does that prove

"We are all here on earth to help others. What I can't figure out is what the others are here for." --W. H. Auden (1)

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,

Altruistic acts are often seen through the benevolent acts of family members express towards each other on a regular basis. Because of the significant amount of genes we share with our kin, the survival of a family is prioritized equally to the survival of the individual. Each member of the family will therefore behave altruistically towards each other, due to the evolutionary drive for survival. The reason that parents behave this altruistically towards their offspring is because “parents (adults) are in a maximally favorable position to dispense inexpensive aid to offspring (eggs) that maximally resembles the parents genetically” (Alexander, 462). Even through altruism is perhaps highest between family members, people also feel more empathetic towards others who possess similar traits, as a large number of genes are share. As altruism “involves a loss of individual fitness, [it] can evolve only by group selection” (Nunney, 228). Therefore, we can see that nature’s force of the survival of the group is a primary driving factor for the appearance of altruism.