Jorgia Rice!

The Impossibility of Pure Altruism

(Egoism)

! Ayn Rand says that egoism is concern with ones own interest, making altruism concern with the interests of another. Pure altruism is therefore concern solely with the interests of another. Because these denitions rely on the thoughts behind the actions, we need to understand how the mind functions in order to discuss them. In my understanding, the human mind can only be divided into two categories: reex, and goal. ! A reex is an involuntary action which occurs without the formation of a goal. Studies have shown that all humans have a reex known as emotional contagion, or compassion. Adam Smith says that compassion involves representing to us what would be our own if we were in another mans case. That is, we feel what we would feel if we were in the situation we are witnessing. This is a reex because no goal is formed, the feeling of compassion takes place involuntarily. Other, more observable human reexes include shuddering, and yawning. Because a reex does not involve a goal or any thought, it cannot be classied as either altruistic or egoistic, and does not need to be considered when dealing with these terms. ! The other part of the mind forms goals based upon its needs and desires. These goals can lead to either altruistic or egoistic actions. ! When a goal does not involve others, and is acted upon, the act is considered an egoistic act. These are the most common kind of acts, and can involve simple, everyday actions such as going to the toilet, or blowing your nose. These actions are considered egoistic because they involve the formation of a goal based on your own needs or desires, and do not involve others. ! When others are involved, but the completion of the goal disadvantages them, it is also considered an egoistic act. An example of this kind of action would be pushing in line at an ice-cream stand. Others must be there for you to push in front of, but the action
! ! 1

Jorgia Rice!

The Impossibility of Pure Altruism

disadvantages them. In this case, you also benet by both completing your goal and getting ice-cream rst. Another case would be yelling at someone because you are angry at them. You do not directly benet from this, except for completing your goal. But, as this action disadvantages others, it is still considered egoistic. ! When others are involved, and the completion of the goal benets them, this is known as an altruistic act. An act that would be regarded as altruistic would be saving a man from drowning in a river. The human emotional contagion reex means that we represent to us what would be our own if we were in his case, and become in some measure the same person as him, which makes his needs, in some measure, our own. The mind forms the goal to help the man, in order to fulll our need for him to be saved. The action of saving him, though still altruistic, is then not purely altruistic. This is because the action of saving him was carried out to complete our own goal, which adds some element of egoism. Also consider the acts that were earlier classied as egoistic, blowing your nose, and going to the toilet. If the reason you wanted to blow your nose was because you thought your snifng was annoying other people, the act would then be classied as altruistic. This is because others are required to be present in order for you to feel as though you are annoying them, and your goals primary focus is on their interests. In the same way, if you went to the toilet because you didnt want to disrupt people by getting up in the middle of the lm you were about to watch, the act would then also be classied as altruistic. However, these actions cannot be purely altruistic, as the action was completed through the egoistic need to fulll your own goal. ! Altruism as an act with concern with the interests of another, can, and does, exist. Altruistic acts can be classied by involving and advantaging others. An act is classied as egoistic when it disadvantages others, or does not involve them at all. However, all acts require the formation of a goal. The nature of a goal means that the mind feels an egoistic need to fulll it, giving all actions some egoistic element. This means that altruistic acts can never be completely rid of egoism. Altruistic acts can never be solely altruistic, they can never be pure.