CARING FOR OTHERS

Philosophical questions about

altruism

Mukund Padmanabhan
 Behaviour that is motivated to benefit someone else or some others.

Behaviour that is the opposite of self-interested and egotistic.

Can be to do good for others; also prevent harm to others

What is
altruism?
In philosophy, it is sometimes, even often, used to describe a deliberate
form of behaviour.

An altruistic act usually involves some self-sacrifice.

But some think that there are hidden personal gains to such acts..
 But does altruism
even exist?
“We have a long way to go
before most people will
understand that what they do
for others is just as important
to their well-being as what
they do for themselves.”
William T. Powers

Imagehttps://alchetron.com/William-T-Powers
Are we hardwired be
selfish?
Psychological Egoism
• The view that we act always out of self-interest.
• As a result, there is strictly no such thing as pure altruism – the idea that
we act in a way that benefits others but has no reciprocal benefits for
ourselves.
• Instances of altruism need to be analysed in a more deeper more
psychological way.
• X may donate to a charity, because he thinks this is the way to heaven. Y
may help the poor because it makes him feel better as a person.
• We may desire or want people to be better off. But we can achieve only
through actions that benefit us as well.
• Psychological egoism is contrasted with logical egoism, the theory that it is
possible to find a selfish or self-interested motive for any altruistic action.
Is it a virtue to be selfish?
Ethical Egoism
• The view that people ought to be motivated by self-interest or
selfishness in their actions.
• This is a normative theory while psychological egoism is a descriptive
theory.
• Ethical egoism presupposes that people have a choice to act either
self-interestedly or otherwise
• ‘Greed’, desire to get rich, ‘animal spirits’ etc may be self-interested
qualities but they may spur economic activity, according to this view.
• Ayn Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness promotes the idea that one must
be seriously concerned about ones own interests and only this will
make for the living of a rational and purposeful life.
Is altruism a form of selfishness?

Two Darwinian evolutionary theories

Reciprocal altruism: Kin selection:

Unrelated organisms act Individuals act altruistically towards
altruistically in the others they are related to because
expectation that others will their genes want to maximise copies
repay a/the favour of themselves
 What is effective
altruism?
• Evidence, reason and effective are the three critical
words here.
• Head and heart
• Warm glow givers are not effective altruists.
• Effective altruists use a sharper utilitarian calculus.
• Everyone’s suffering counts equally
• Does this mean you treat your children/family the same
way as others?
• Should altruism be extended to animals as well? Some Effective altruism “is a philosophy and a social
think so. movement which applies evidence and reason
to working out the most effective ways of
improving the world.”
Peter Singer
Image:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Singer
 What you can do as an effective
altruist: Singer’s world view

• Effective altruists do things like the following:

• Living modestly and donating a large part of their income—
often much more than the traditional tenth, or tithe—to the
most effective charities;
• Researching and discussing with others which charities are
the most effective or drawing on research done by other
independent evaluators;
• Choosing the career in which they can earn most, not in
order to be able to live affluently but so that they can do
more good;
• Talking to others, in person or online, about giving, so that
the idea of effective altruism will spread;
• Giving, if you are so inclined, part of their body—blood,
bone marrow, or even a kidney—to a stranger

Image:https://medium.com/@will.campbell/what-influences-how-we-form-our-worldview-c612d0297a9f