Altruism Essay

Kindness, positive acts, and behaviors should not just be for family and friends, but everyone in society as well. How I see it is the reciprocal altruism theory – “a view that suggests that we may be willing to help people unrelated to us because helping is usually reciprocated.” I believe that helping someone, even a stranger, would not hurt me in any ways. Everyone has their bad days and we should not just help our relatives, but also “help people who are unrelated to us” (Social…

In Search of Nature by E.O. Wilson contains a chapter titled "Altruism and Aggression," in which the author examines the social behaviors of altruism and aggression. Wilson takes care to address and refute the claim that there exists within humans an inherent instinct to display hostility. Wilson presents aggression as antithetical to altruism, an inherent component of human nature, and therefore contends that antagonism is not intuitive but acquired; humans are taught to be aggressive by their…

Since the beginning of mankind, all human beings have and always will be selfish. There is no such thing a selfless good deed and altruism has ceased to exist. Selfishness is what allowed survival of the fittest. Julian Barnes touches on the subject in “The Visitors”, the second chapter of his novel, A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters. In doing so, he relates two events in which a monkey and a man, Franklin Hughes, are left to make the ultimate decision of saving a loved one or making a…

from helping a senior citizen to saving someone’s life. Helping behaviour is widely encouraged in all cultures and is often seen as an altruistic act whereby people will be willing to help someone in need without asking for something in return. Altruism in psychology can be defined as “a motivational state with the goal of increasing another’s welfare.” Altruistic acts are often seen on news where people would be willing to help someone to the extent of risking their own lives. Over the year,…

palace to escape from his own plight, diminished. These self-important aspirations were replaced by the self-sacrificial yearning to free the oppressed of his kingdom. Truthfully, in overcoming his futile desires of self with his new found sense of altruism, charity becomes Edward’s strongest…

is the concept of altruism. Whether it be in literature, in history, in our everyday lives, or in society around us altruism is vital. Songs are written about it, a balanced life depends upon it. Living as a well balanced, active member of any groups celebrates life as if there is no tomorrow and lives each day to the fullest. When you have these goals sometimes you dream bigger like Martin Luther King Jr., and you always celebrate the possibilities. Great men practice altruism, learn from their…

selection, animal altruism, and arguments against psychological egoism to assist in proving my thesis to be true. I will also address a counter argument made by some psychological egoists who believe that due to most people feeling pleasure while doing good things for others, that there are no people only act selfishly. I will reference James Rachel’s essay “Psychological Egoism” to help enhance my theory that not all acts must be out of self interest. In my perception of what altruism should…

Scheper-Hughes’ suggests it is a violent act where “pure altruism does not exist” (Scheper-Hughes 2007: 508). Their essays pose a multitude of questions: Does altruism exist? Should donations be anonymous? Where does ownership lie? How does…

relief. An egoistic end goal refers to increasing personal gain or decreasing personal pain; while, an altruistic motivation is solely focused on increasing the welfare of the other person. After reading the two articles pertaining the existence of altruism, I find myself to lean more towards the argument that altruistic motivation does exist—with personal gain as an unintended…

positive outlook on life and transcend ones’s perspective of the world. The professors have faith that awe can be the key to unlocking the practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others and within humans, also called “human altruism.” In agreement, Piff and Keltner utilized multiple appropriate and resourceful experiments to help them elucidate…