heyAltruism /ˈæltruːɪzəm/ is a concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions, though the concept of 'others' toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness.
Altruism can be distinguished from feelings of duty and loyalty. Altruism is a motivation to provide something of value to a party who must be anyone but the self, while duty focuses on a moral obligation towards a specific individual (for example, a god, a king), or collective (for example, a government). Pure altruism consists of sacrificing something for someone other than the self (e.g. sacrificing time, energy or possessions) with no expectation of any compensation or benefits, either direct, or indirect (for instance from recognition of the giving).
Much debate exists as to whether true altruism is possible. Arguably, the act of sharing, helping or sacrificing may be primarily motivated by the gratification it returns. This seems to assume a different understanding of 'benefits', though, from the traditionally assumed meanings (which are external - recognition from others, reciprocation etc. - rather than internal), making this a problematic argument.
The term altruism may also refer to an ethical doctrine that claims that individuals are morally obliged to benefit others. Used in this sense, it is the opposite of egoism. Contents[hide] * 1 The notion of altruism * 2 Scientific viewpoints * 2.1 Anthropology * 2.2 Evolutionary explanations * 2.3 Neurobiology * 2.4 Psychology * 2.5 Sociology * 3 Religious viewpoints * 3.1 Buddhism * 3.2 Jainism * 3.3 Christianity * 3.4 Islam and Sufism * 3.5 Judaism * 3.6 Sikhism * 3.7 Hinduism * 4 Philosophy * 5 See also * 6 References * 7 External links |
[edit] The notion of altruism
The concept has a long history in philosophical and ethical thought. The term was originally coined in the 19th century by the founding sociologist and philosopher of science, Auguste Comte, and has become a major topic for psychologists (especially evolutionary psychology researchers), evolutionary biologists, and ethologists. While ideas about altruism from one field can have an impact on the other fields, the different methods and focuses of these fields lead to different perspectives on altruism. In simple terms altruism is caring about the welfare of other people and acting to help them.
[edit] Scientific viewpoints
[edit] Anthropology
Marcel Mauss's book The Gift contains a passage: "Note on alms". This note describes the evolution of the notion of alms (and by extension of altruism) from the notion of sacrifice.
Alms are the fruits of a moral notion of the gift and of fortune on the one hand, and of a notion of sacrifice, on the other. Generosity is an obligation, because Nemesis avenges the poor and the gods for the superabundance of happiness and wealth of certain people who should rid themselves of it. This is the ancient morality of the gift, which has become a principle of justice. The gods and the spirits accept that the share of wealth and happiness that has been offered to them and had been hitherto destroyed in useless sacrifices should serve the poor and children. * Compare Altruism (ethics) – perception of altruism as self-sacrifice. * Compare explanation of alms in various scriptures.
[edit] Evolutionary explanations
Main articles: Altruism in animals, Evolution of morality, and Evolutionary ethics
In the science of ethology (the study of animal behaviour), and more generally in the study of social evolution, altruism refers to behaviour by an individual that increases the fitness of another individual while decreasing the fitness of the actor.[1] Researchers on altruistic behaviours among animals have been ideologically opposed to the sociological social Darwinist concept of the "survival of the fittest", under the name of "survival of the nicest"—not to be confused with the biological concept of Darwin's theory of evolution. Insistence on such cooperative behaviors between animals was first exposed by the Russian zoologist and anarchist Peter Kropotkin in his 1902 book, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution.
Theories of apparently altruistic behavior were accelerated by the need to produce theories compatible with evolutionary origins. Two related strands of research on altruism have emerged out of traditional evolutionary analyses, and from game theory respectively.
Some of the proposed mechanisms are: * Reciprocal altruism[2] * Selective investment theory[3] – a theoretical proposal for the evolution of long-term, high-cost altruism * Sexual selection, in particular, the handicap principle[4] * Reciprocity * Direct reciprocity (repeated encounters)[5] * Indirect reciprocity (for example, reputation)[6] * Strong reciprocity[7] * Pseudo-reciprocity[8] * Kin selection[9] * Group selection
The study of altruism was the initial impetus behind George R. Price's development of the Price equation, which is a mathematical equation used to study genetic evolution. An interesting example of altruism is found in the cellular slime moulds, such as Dictyostelium mucoroides. These protists live as individual amoebae until starved, at which point they aggregate and form a multicellular fruiting body in which some cells sacrifice themselves to promote the survival of other cells in the fruiting body. Social behavior and altruism share many similarities to the interactions between the many parts (cells, genes) of an organism, but are distinguished by the ability of each individual to reproduce indefinitely without an absolute requirement for its neighbors.
[edit] Neurobiology
Jorge Moll and Jordan Grafman, neuroscientists at the National Institutes of Health and LABS-D'Or Hospital Network (J.M.) provided the first evidence for the neural bases of altruistic giving in normal healthy volunteers, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In their research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA in October, 2006,[10] they showed that both pure monetary rewards and charitable donations activated the mesolimbic reward pathway, a primitive part of the brain that usually lights up in response to food and sex. However, when volunteers generously placed the interests of others before their own by making charitable donations, another brain circuit was selectively activated: the subgenual cortex/septal region. These structures are intimately related to social attachment and bonding in other species. Altruism, the experiment suggested, was not a superior moral faculty that suppresses basic selfish urges but rather was basic to the brain, hard-wired and pleasurable.[11]
Another experiment funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted in 2007 at the Duke University in Durham, North Carolina suggests a different view, "that altruistic behavior may originate