<p>So I was just pondering today about the concept of pure altruism. Do purely altruistic acts actually exist? Or is every act done solely out selfishness? Opinions from a ethical/psychological, religious, and/or evolutionary standpoint would all be intriguing to hear.</p>
<p>I will post my opinions shortly. Although I do partially believe in the latter school of thought.</p>
<p>Discuss.</p>
<p>I have a feeling most people on CC favor Thomas Hobbs type philosophies about altruism.</p>
<p>Do they? Well yes… its documented in a number of species. It also inadvertently leads to positive natural selection (an individual will sacrifice itself for it’s own family - passing the traits on to the next generation). With humans though, im sure there are a number of good people out there. Donating blood for example is a purely altruistic act. You take a little pain to help others, and it doesn’t help you in any way (actually it hurts your body). You feel better afterwards though. There are a number of things (small things)</p>
<p>that’s the thing davematthewsxvii, you feel better in the end. So was that act conducted for the fact that you will feel good about yourself or out of pure altruism?</p>
<p>It does exist, but reciprocal altruism/mutual aid is much more common and is the behavioral norm for many species, and I would argue it is for humanity (under natural conditions, when unhindered by environmental factors).</p>
<p>Well you’re not donating blood to feel good about doing so, you’re doing it to help others keeprolling… That’s the difference</p>
<p>When I donate blood (only did t once. tried to twice, denied the first time), I’m not really thinking about who I’m helping. But I don’t feel good about myself either.
When I helped to build a house for a family of African immigrants with Habitat for Humanity, I thought more about who I was helping, obviously, because I was working with them, talking to their daughter during breaks, but I still don’t really feel like “Oh, I’m doing something good” and I don’t feel better about myself.
I just sort of do those things without thinking. The blood donation people come to my school, how could I not do it? It’s like signing up for AP classes. How could I not do it? It’s not a conscious decision, for me. I don’t think that’s altruistic, it’s automatic.</p>
<p>Pure altruism exists but it’s rare. Most good deeds are done partially so that one may feel good about oneself. I’d think most purely altruistic acts would have to hurt the persons who did them, in order to offset the good feelings of helping someone.</p>
<p>I don’t think it exists.</p>
<p>Most people do something good for someone else because they know that they’ll feel good about themselves afterwards.</p>
<p>A truly altruistic act is one in which the giver does not gain anything at all.</p>
<p>I don’t know if that made sense or not.</p>
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<p>Pretty good argument. I think there are a couple ways to look at this </p>
<p>One, is the person doing something good so other people will think highly of them (Donating a building to my college and naming it 3togo Hall) … I think in these cases it pretty easy to be cynical about if the motives were pure altruism</p>
<p>Two, someone does something annonomously … giving blood is a good example or any unamed donation to a charity … however the person may feel good about themselves … so an argument can be made that this is not pure altruism.</p>
<p>But what about this example, a squad is on patrol and a hand grenade is thrown into the squads bunker/fox hole and a squad member jumps on the grenade hoping to save the others in his squad?</p>
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<p>We can consider the possibility that the soldier truly cared about his squadmates (soldiers tend to bond as a family with their squad) and did not want to see them die. Or he signed up to be a soldier in the first place because he felt his life had little meaning, and by dying on the battlefield to save his fellow squad members, he knew he would be posthumously awarded a medal.</p>
<p>So you see, pure altruism is really dependent on motive.</p>
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<p>Automatic for taking APs and donating blood. “How could you not?” Come on… if that’s really your brain works i … uh… no comment</p>
<p>I think reach has the best response on this</p>
<p>What? Is there something wrong with me? I honestly couldn’t say that I really think about most sorts of things. There re a lot of situations where I can’t imagine the alternative, it’s just entirely impossible for me to do anything else.
I just don’t get how it couldn’t be automatic. There’s a blood donation truck sitting 100ft away. Do you really need to think about it? Most of the kids who do it don’t seem to have thought about it.</p>
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<p>Neither.</p>
<p>But if you consider that intentional acts are only done by someone because they feel compelled to and that “good” accidents aren’t really altruistic, then “pure” altruism can’t really exist.</p>
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<p>this got me thinking: is a truly altruistic act the best? i mean by your definition, pure altruism is essentially win/nothing. but to go back to the donating blood example, so what if it wasn’t truly altruistic? you donate blood, you feel good about yourself = win. somebody who needs blood gets your blood = win. win/win. if you ask me, i prefer the latter. (i know it wasn’t your question, just my $0.02)</p>
<p>a truly altruistic act (by that definition) is impossible since doing what you want to do is gaining something, and you wouldn’t do something you don’t really want to do.</p>
<p>I believe doctors are doing (partly) altruistic acts everyday. Yes, they do gain the income, but what they’re giving is much more important and for the good of man-kind.
Meanwhile if you donate blood, you’re basically giving the best gift of all -life. I for one am not giving blood for feeling good for myself. I want to help someone else in need. Yes, many argue that I will gain something out of it, but personally, I don’t think I do. Only the feeling happiness if my blood saved somebody, but is that considered selfish?</p>
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<p>There’s a mental syndrome for this. No joke (no insult)…but the way you’re describing your personality (hopefully you’re just exxagerating) there’s a name for it. I just can’t put the head on the nail right now</p>
<p>I think purely altruistic acts can occur when done instinctively. However, I’m not sure if they are possible when one has time to think about them.</p>
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<p>Wait, legit? Because I do have some issues with not conceptualizing of other options and just doing stuff without a thought in that “How could I not?” way I described.</p>
<p>I know I’m bumping a really old thread, but whatevs.</p>
<p>I so totally listened to the podcast by HowStuffWorks on this.
Is this where you’re getting this from?
It has to be, right? </p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t think people are altruistic for the purpose of that warm feeling they get. It’s just a fringe benefit, out of their control.</p>