How do you explain Altruism?

by nicolaou 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  nicolaou

  Altruism describes an unselfish attention to the needs of others and is central to the main religions: Jesus told his followers to; "love your neighbour as yourself”, Mohammed said “none of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself” and Buddhism advocates “seeking for others the happiness one desires for oneself.”
  Throughout history the debate has been whether this benevolence towards others is part of our make-up and natural inclination or a virtue we must impose on ourselves through effort, religious or otherwise. Then of course came Darwin with his ideas about competition and natural selection The Origin of Species described a world where every organism struggles for it's own supremacy.
  
  So how does this square with altruism? If both mankind and the natural world are selfishly seeking to promote their own survival and advancement, how can we explain being kind to others, sometimes at our own expense? How have philosophical ideas about altruism responded to evolutionary theory?

  And paradoxically, is it possible that altruism can, in fact, be selfish?
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  scotsman

  Could you possibly be listening to Melvin Bragg's programme on Radio 4?!
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  Oroborus21

  there are very few truly altruistic situations...even the ones that seem like they may qualify will reveal selfish motivations or benefits under enough examination.

  altruism isn't truly selfless anyway. it is only the recognition that the benefit to others is in some way beneficial to the self even if intangibly so...
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  slimboyfat

  People are especially altruistic to those who happen to share the same genes: siblings, cousins and so on. Altruism therefore provides a selective advantage for genes. Modern processes of socialization have disrupted this traditional environment for altruism in the last few hundred years. In other words there are more opportunities for altruism toward those we are not related to these days. However that development is too recent to have a big impact on programmed behaviour yet. That leaves open the interesting question as to whether socialization may lead to less altruistic interactions in future as such behaviour no longer produces the same survival advantages for genes as it once did.

  Dawkins has an interesting discussion of this. Have you read the book, The God Delusion?

  Slim
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  gaiagirl

  Animals often display altruism, probably the best known example is that of dolphins saving drowning humans, which has been documented for more than 2000 years. People who have dogs and children often find that when the children are learning to walk, the dog will frequently deliberately place itself in a position to help steady the toddler. Animals even display altruism towards those of other species, such as one case in which a baby hippo lost its mother, and adopted (or was adopted by) a giant tortoise. Another incident involving hippos was when a cow died crossing a river, and its body washed up onto the banks, hippos stood vigil around the body for hours, gently licking it as if attempting to revive it (or perhaps protecting it from crocodiles until they were certain the cow was really dead?).
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  fokyc

  I like 'reciprocal altruism',

  A potential example of reciprocal altruism is

  blood-sharing in the vampire bat , in which bats feed regurgitated blood to those who have not collected much blood themselves knowing that they themselves may someday benefit from this same donation; cheaters are remembered by the colony and ousted from this collaboration (DA or DF'd?)

  The JW's would just love it too.

  fokyc
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  Oroborus21

  gaiagirl..

  those examples are NOT altruism, not in the biological sense being discussed anyway. What you are describing is unselfish concern on the part of one actor (animal, etc.) for another. That is altruism in only a loose sense that is used by most people to describe the common virtue.

  What is beng discussed is altruisim in the biological sense which is simply defined as behavour by one individual (actor) that increases the fitness (or in evolutionary terms, increases the survival probability) of another individual or group WHILE simultaneously decreasing its own fitness or reducing its own survivability probability.

  An act of altruism in this sense might be if an otherwise healthy antelope ran into the path of the cheetah and sacrificed its own life in order so that the rest of the herd could runaway. (such a conscious act is ridiculous of course)

  Or a common HOLLYWOOD depiction of altruism is the mythical moment when the one guy in the platoon throws himself on the grenade that has been lobbed into the trench. (has never actually happened by the way)

  -Eduardo
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  serendipity

  I think it depends.
  
  A person may have different motives for altruistic acts, depending on the event, circumstance or recipients involved. Perhaps altruism is somehow hard-wired into us, to ensure survival of the species.
  
  And yes, altruism can be selfish. It feels good to help others, which is why I sometimes "help" others even if they don't ask for my help. ;-)
  
  What I find interesting is that reciprocity also seems to be ingrained in many of us as well.
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  AlmostAtheist

  We seem to have an inherent desire for fairness. Even in situations that don't involve us. For instance, we may get all bent out of shape over the gay-marriage thing, even though we're not gay. It really doesn't involve us, but we just don't think it's fair that they can't get married. (Not to get into the debate, but to illustrate the point.)

  So you see a guy that looks down on his luck, and your desire to balance the scales moves you to give him a dollar. Not that it DOES balance the scales, but it makes you feel like you nudged it in the right direction.

  I could see a sense of fairness being an overall good thing for a population. Everyone being totally selfish would waste resources, but everyone looking to balance things out would maximize them.

  Just guessing here, and I don't have any data to back any of it up. C'mon people, have some faith! ;-)

  Dave
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  zagor

  One thing you might be overlooking is that for any organism that is a part of a larger community to survive it must work in interest of the community to increase likelihood of survival. You see that even among sardines in the sea where they bend together when attacked. Humans have been social creatures for thousands of years ever since first hunter-gatherers; they have instinctively learned that in order for them to survive they have to work in the interest of the community as a whole. But you are right, when exists true altruism today can and often does transcend even those selfish tendencies. The thing is, we all now have those abilities it is only up to us how we are going to use them. Many people are in fact not altruistic at all precisely because of not seeing any benefit to themselves. Other on the other hand chose to use those innate abilities to go step further in human evolution and be there for their fellow man.