The Role of Altruism in Society

Ever since I can remember, I have had the intense desire to help people. In high school, I joined Kiwanis Key Club and National Honors Society; both organizations allowed me to gain hours of volunteer experience helping families in need within my own community. Both organizations have annual events to benefit our community. At Christmas, Key Club adopts a few families and we buy clothing and toys for the kids. Our efforts to make the holidays a more enjoyable time for the families removed the parents’ burden of having to worry about being able to pay bills after getting presents for their children. Also, National Honors Society holds a blood drive every year in coalition with the American Red Cross. Last year our blood drive was in honor of a little girl in our community with leukemia.

In a world where altruism exists, selfishness exists as well (Le Morvan). Selfishness is when a person puts his or her interests before other people’s interests, and altruism is when a person puts other people’s interests before his or her own interests (Le Morvan). Martin Luther King believed with all of his heart and soul that “every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness” (Soosai-Nathan). People have a choice to help others or to help themselves, and their decisions can either be helpful or destructive, altruistic or selfish. According to numerous studies, different environmental and circumstantial factors affect how a

I have participated in many activities that served to help others such as, taking my time to help at the Adult’s Day Care, help with anything that is needed at the nursing home, and on the weekends I would volunteer at the Youth Basketball Summer League by working at the concession stand, collecting ticket money, work for the scoreboard, and coach for my team. I also believe it is better to give than to receive. I donate money and toys to the St. Jude Children Research Hospital as well as giving to the Wounded Warriors. In addition to giving to the Wounded Warriors, my father and I participated in the cook off in honor of the warriors that have fought for our

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.

Giving back to the community has always been one of my favorite activities. Seeing a smile on those people that are in need of help is a life changing experience. What could be a little act of kindness to us could make their entire day. Helping others is one of the reasons why I want to join the honors program.

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

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

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

The passage claims that altruism is a type of behavior which benefits another, yet provides little reward to the one performing the act. It provides examples with human donating blood and organs; sentinel meercat who look for the predators while the others hunt for food or eat food they obtained. However, the professor refutes each of reasons from the passage.

The thought of spring break brings up images of partying in warm weather, drunken one-night stands, and the raging hangovers that follow; yet for Rachel Garneau, a junior at Notre-Dame, it represented an pseudo-holiday opportunity for giving, and give she did. This twenty year old gave up a kidney for a complete stranger. There was an air of psychosis to her as she walked right into the University Of Chicago’s Bernard Mitchell Hospital, calm as ever; her demeanor quite indifferent, her nonchalance quite unnerving. Funny how we find this act of complete altruism ‘weird’; because it is weird, all that we know from evolution, Darwinism, basic human tendencies, and even the

Batson, C. D. (1991). The Altruism Question: Toward a Social-Psychological Answer. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

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,

How do humans actually behave when faced with the decision to help others? The innate desire that compels humans to help is called altruism by psychologists. Through this feeling, humans transform from a selfish jerk to a more compassionate and caring person. Some psychologists believe that this feeling stems from nature itself. Despite the fact that some altruistic acts originate from the pressures of society, altruism predominantly comes from the survival of the fittest, the feeling of empathy, and the selfish desire to benefit your own kin.