Empathy-altruism

showed imagining how another feels produces empathy (leading to altruistic motivation), while actively imagining how you would feel produces both empathy and self-orientated distress (leading to mixture of altruistic and egotistic motivations). For example, if we help a drunk on the street because we understand how they feel, the behaviour is altruistic, but if we also imagine how we might feel, the behaviour is not ‘really’ altruistic. It therefore depends on the perspective of the person offering help, as to whether or not the behaviour is ‘really’…

In Landau’s book, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Chapter seven focuses on psychological egoism. The backbone of this theory is that all human actions are driven by human’s egotistical desires. Landau defends this theory by stating, “Psychological egoism is a theory about human motivation: it tells us that our only motivation is to make ourselves better off.” (Landau 106) This means in order for someone to adopt this theory they must believe that even trivial events that seem very altruistic are…

Altruism is an unselfish act of helping regardless of benefit to self; basically, the practice of selfless service, which is genuinely caring for others over self. For instance, a man saw someone fall on the train track and without thinking for a second, he quickly sprang into action and save the man’s life seconds before the train appears. Had he hesitated, that man would have killed in an instant. What would he have gain by his action? Absolutely nothing; a matter of fact, his life also could…

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, the questions that are often asked is that “Why do we help?” and “What inspires us to get involved?” Imagine that one day, when you are having lunch in a restaurant and a battered woman walks in nervously…

that species help each other, however they do it even if it puts their own lives at risk. A question frequently asked is whether they perform these selfless acts with the intention of being rewarded back or if they perform them with no aim of reward or gain. This is the question of altruism. Altruism is defined as an act that an individual engages in, that presents a benefit to the recipient but comes at a cost to the individual presenting the act. In evolutionary terms the costs and rewards are…

Thomas Hobbes was a well-known philosopher, born in the 16th Century. He toyed with numerous ideas and theories in his lifetime; some supportive of earlier philosophers and others disproving his predecessor’s findings. Psychological egoism emerged from Hobbes’ opinions. In this paper, I will state his view of human beings, and express my opinion of his view. Additionally, I will discuss altruism and how I view the idea of altruism. Psychological egoism is defined as, “the view that the…

(a) Many may question the intentions of people’s actions, whether it is for personal gain or truly attempting offer aid to an individual in distress. Empathy is seen as a leading factor that initiates someone help another. The main idea taken away from both readings in the difference between egoistic and altruistic motivation is the ultimate end goal of the person offering relief. An egoistic end goal refers to increasing personal gain or decreasing personal pain; while, an altruistic motivation…

morals is typically shunned in many religions. There are many religions that look at this as a chance to pray for forgiveness and to become closer with whom they believe in. Religious groups always want to add new members to the group and they look at this as an altruistic act because they believe they are helping others live a better life. Whether this counts as an altruistic act depends on what each individual person believes. However, for example, if a criminal joining a religious group…

reciprocity is regulated by certain parts of the brain that would have been selected as a result of its success in allowing humans to survive (“Human altruism” 786-787). For the experiment, subjects were first told to respond to fair and unfair offers in a bargaining game while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine their brain as they answered. It was found that less fair offers activated the bilateral insula, which has been shown to regulate negative emotional states…

The perspectives offered range from the egoistic view which states that altruism occurs as a result of an expectation of a future benefit to the alter-centric views which attribute acts of altruism to biology. As Khalil outlines in the article the various perspectives laid out explain a portion of altruistic behavior, however, fall short in offering a complete explanation. Khalil asserts that other alternatives should be explored in order to get a better sense of what altruism is. While it is…