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Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

A question is posed in IRC undernet #philosophy regarding the nature
of altruism and what constituted an altruistic act.

Sitaram replies:

Someone once asked the perfect question in this channel describing
such an altruistic act....

Hypothetical situation: you are offered the following choice,.... you
may choose to die tomorrow, and because of your choice, the human
race will continue for many millenia,... or you may choose to live
100 years in health and prosperity, but when you die, the human race
shall perish.... whichever you choose, no one will ever know of your
choice

Kant's ethics encourages us to see others as an end in themselves,
rather than simply a means to an end

I am suddenly reminded that the great philantropist, George Eastman
(of Eastman Kodac fame), finally ended his life in suicide, leaving a
note which said :my work is done... an altruistic philanthropist
derives purpose from his activity....

What of the altruist who is not conscious of their own altruism,....
i can think of an excellent example from a certain biblical passage
(but this channel seems allergic to such references)...

I think it is an example with profound implications.... a parable
which may be understood as "the judgement",... there are those who
say "we have done this and that good thing", but they are told "go
away, I never knew you,".... while others are told, "i was naked and
you clothed me, hungry and you fed me, etc." and that group seems
quite purplexed (not self conscious of their good deed ) and they
ask , "when did we ever do such things"....

This is precisely my point,... they were altruistic, yet seemed not
terribly self conscious or focused on that dimension of their
lives... as if they did it as a sort of second nature..... took it
for granted

When at the outset you prclaim the importance of serving "the poorest
of the poor", then quite obviously, your altruism is highly motivated
in a quid-pro-quo fashion

quid.pro.quo... something done in expectation of something else in
return

when you act out of a sense of duty, obligation, then you do not see
yourself as altruistic

aristotle said "a friend is another 'I' "

were we to see all others as our own self,... empathize and not
simply sympathize

(someone complains that the parable is too biblical, and hence,
authoritative)

Sitaram replies: and mathematics is not authoritative (or at least
attempts to be).... Q.E.D. (quod erat demonstrandum)

If everyone in the world spontaneously decided to have 20
children,... their decision would collectively destroy the human
race through overpopulation, famine, disease. Yet ever everyone in
the world spontaneously decided to take a solemn vow of celibacy,...
then collectively, that action would bring the human race to
extinction... yet those rare individuals who have 20 children, or
live a life of celibacy, are not considered to be harming the future
of the human race

We will all live on.. until about 8 billion years from now when our
sun super=novas and destroys the planet... and there are things which
we might attempt, to make survival possible for human race and
culture,.... but no one bothers, because 8 billion years seems like
forever... and we are too busy squandering our time and resources in
petty conflicts

In fact... this brings us back to the question of altruism.... would
it not be altruistic for people now to dedicate their efforts and
energies and resources to making life possible for those unborn
generations which will come in 8 billion years

common sense tells us that no star lives forever.... astronomers
observe dying stars every day... the old "handwriting" is on the
wall,

========

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-
8&oi=defmore&q=define:Altruism

Altruism, like passion, is the key intent that philanthropy
expresses; a concern for the welfare of others; selflessness.

www.rag.org/giving/glossary.html

Unselfish concern for the welfare of others.

www.sustainabilityonline.com/HTML/Volunteers/volunteer_glossary.html

Belief that an agent's moral decisions should be guided by
consideration for the interests and well-being of other people rather
than merely by self-interest, as egoism would recommend. Recommended
Reading: Thomas Nagel, The Possibility of Altruism (Princeton, 1979)
{at Amazon.com}; Altruism, ed. by Jeffrey Paul, Ellen F. Paul, and
Fred D. Miller, Jr. (Cambridge, 1993) {at Amazon.com}; and Matt
Ridley, The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of
Cooperation (Penguin, 1998) {at Amazon.com}. Also see OCP, BGHT,
ColE, noesis, and ISM.

www.philosophypages.com/dy/a2.htm

Genus: Code of Ethics Differentia: The welfare of others is the
standard of the good / holds the sacrifice of the self to others as
the good Link: Article

www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Dictionary.html

A selfless concern for other people purely for their own sake.
Altruism is usually contrasted with selfishness or egoism in ethics.
Topic areas:Accountability and Evaluation, Volunteer Management,
Advocacy

www.nonprofitbasics.org/TopicAreaGlossary.aspx

in human and animal behaviour, the tendency to act in ways that
benefit other individuals more than oneself, sometimes even where
there is a real cost involved to the giver.

www.blackwellpublishers.co.uk/psychol/Glossary.htm

–– the ethical view that one ought to act out of regard for the
interests of others

reformed-theology.org/html/dictiona.htm

Behavior that is unselfish and may even be detrimental but which
benefits others.

allpsych.com/dictionary/

a tendency to see the needs of others as more important than one's
own & to therefore be willing to sacrifice for others.

www.ptvincivilsociety.org/glossary.htm

the view that the well-being of others should have as much importance
for us as the well-being of ourselves. Some argue that altruism, even
if it is desirable, is not possible, and that our ethics must be
based on egoism.

www.hku.hk/philodep/ugrad/glossary.htm

a generous willingness to help another person or persons, even when
there is no reward or other observable benefit to the helper; often
involves some sacrifice on the part of the helper

lms.thomsonelearning.com/hbcp/glossary/glossary.taf

The prosocial "unselfish concern for the welfare of others" (Neufeldt
& Sparks, 1990, p. 1 Cool

. Evidenced by generosity, helping,
cooperation, self-control, delaying gratification, or resisting the
temptation to cheat, lie, or steal. Antisocial Behavior Behavior that
goes against the norms of society, including "physical aggression,
verbal aggression, passivity, stereotyping, theft, rule breaking,
materialism, unlawful behaviors, or pathological behavior" (Hearold,
1986, p. 81).

www.aect.org/intranet/publications/edtech/11/11-10.html

When used in reference to a point of view within the field of
Ethical, Value and/or Behavioural Matters, this is a Point of View in
which the prime parameter for effectuating a course of action is
determined by choosing that which is

gardenoflifetemple.com/02WhoWeAre/Definitions.html

unselfish interest in helping another person. (See 438)

highered.mcgraw-
hill.com/sites/0072494638/student_view0/chapter14/glossary.html

interested in other people for their own sake. Contrast with Egoism.

hosting.uaa.alaska.edu/afwsj/glossary.htm

devotion to the interests of others; disinterested benevolence;
opposed to egoism

openeyes96002.tripod.com/definitions.html

the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others

www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

========

http://www.priceofliberty.com/altruism_alt.htm

Why Not Altruism? - another view

Making altruism the basis of morality seems reasonable to most
people. But this concept can be directly traced to Christianity. In
fact no world-view not based on Christianity espouses this view.
Eastern religions are primarily concerned with what is the optimimal
way to live one's life. Their ethics are not based on altruism.
Confucianism specifically describes a set of loyalties based on
expanding circles of relationships, the very opposite of universal
altruism. Pre-christian western religions also weren't very
altruistic. Jews consider themselves to be the chosen people and
aren't terribly concerned non-Jews. Each city-state of the ancient
Greeks had similar views holding their city-state above the others
and then Greeks above non-Greeks. This seems to be the natural view
of people which makes sense when one considers that people evolved in
tribes and the tribes that were most likely to survive were those
whose members were loyal to that tribe.

The origin of Altuism

Modern universal altruism was invented by Paul. Christ's main concern
was to save Jews from the corruption that he saw around him. Christ
did not concern himself with non-Jews. It was Paul, the greatest
salesman in history, who twisted Christ's teachings around to create
a universal religion. Paul created modern Christianity whose goal was
to save everyone's soul. Of course universal altruism requires
absolute morality because without absolute morality, how can you
really know if you are helping someone or hurting them? In fact,
Christianity was a natural outcome of combining the intolerant jewish
god with the socratic concept of absolute truth. Absolute truth is so
deaply embedded in western thought that most westerners can't even
imagine a world view without it. But world views not derived from
Socrates are generally not based on absolute truth (which is why
westerners find them incomprehensible). By combining socratic
absolute truth with jewish religious intolera! nc! e, you get
christian absolute intolerance. And this is the basis universal
altruism which basically says there is an absolute morality that will
be shoved down everyone's throat for their benefit.
Modern liberals don't think of themselves as Christians, but that is
exaclty what they are. The fact that they have thrown off Christian
mythology does not make them non-Christians. Christianity is world
view of which the religion is just one component. The other
components, the ethics and the metaphysics, have been completely
retained by liberal atheists.

What is Altruism?

All this talk about altruism requires that we try to define it. A
simple definition is "being helpful to others". But how does one know
what is helpful to others? Suppose someone is trying to kill himself.
Is it helpful to help him kill himself or is it helpful to stop him
from killing himself? Christians tried to save the souls of others by
burning witches and oppressing non-christian cultures. Was this
altruistic? I suppose the response of modern liberal is that the
christians weren't altruistic because they weren't being helpful (by
the liberal's definition of helpful), but the liberal altruist would
really be helpful because the liberal knows what is good. Same though
pattern, different details.

What Morality is Right?

I am relativist, so I am not going to push my morality on you. But I
will explain it. I view morality as another sense just like the sense
of taste. Just as I can taste food and tell you whether the food
tastes good, I can consider an ethical question and tell you what
feels moral to me. I enjoy developing my sense of morality just as I
enjoy developing my sense of taste. To develop my sense of morality,
I consider theoretical ethical questions and try to apply my morality
where possible in my life. My morality is quite similar to most non-
Christian based systems and is particularly focused on people and
events that are directly tied to my personal life.

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