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Theories Of Altruism

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Altruism refers to a specific form of motivation for one organism, usually human, benefiting another. Although some biologists and psychologists speak of altruistic behavior as a behavior that benefits another, such a definition fails to consider the motivation for the behavior, and motivation is the central issue in discussions of altruism. If one’s ultimate goal in benefiting another is to increase the other’s welfare, then the motivation is altruistic. If the ultimate goal is to increase one’s own welfare, then the motivation is egoistic. Usually, the term altruism refers to this specific form of motivation and the term helping refers to behavior that benefits another.
ALTRUISM VERSUS EGOISM:
Human beings devote much time and energy to helping …show more content…

This question of whether altruism exists is not a new one. It has been a central question in Western thought for centuries, from Aristotle (384–322 b.c.) and St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), through Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), the Duke de la Rochefoucauld (1613–1680), David Hume (1711–1776), Adam Smith (1723–1790), and Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832), to Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) and Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). The majority view among Renaissance and post-Renaissance philosophers and more recently among biologists and psychologists is that, humans are at heart, purely egoistic— they care for others only to the extent that others’ welfare affects their own (Mansbridge, 1990, and Wallach & Wallach, …show more content…

This reaction has variously been called “empathy” (Batson, 1987; Krebs, 1975; Stotland, 1969). Empathy has been named as a source of altruism by philosophers ranging from Aquinas to Rousseau to Hume to Adam Smith, and by psychologists ranging from William McDougall to contemporary researchers such as Hoffman (1981), Krebs (1975), and Batson (1987).

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