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Thread: Is true altruism possible?

  1. #1
    Stegodon
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    Default Is true altruism possible?

    Having been raised Jewish, and having since found my own set of rational reasons to behave morally as an atheist, I've wondered about this for a long time.

    Altruistic behavior, ISTM, is practically always rewarded in some fashion or another. If the altruist doesn't get a gift or recognition of some kind, she will at least be held in higher esteem by the recipient of the act and/or the witnesses of the act. This seems practically inevitable to me.

    So, if altruism is defined as doing kind things for other people without the expectation of a reward, but altruists are always rewarded with at least some intangible sense of good will, and all altruists know this, is it actually possible to be altruistic?

    That is, everybody who thinks about human behavior at all, expects some reward (as listed above) for altruistic behavior, so is it possible to actually commit kind acts without expecting any of those things to happen? I mean, you'd have to go beyond humility and into flat-out denial of human nature to not expect any of those kinds of rewards, right?
    Every dialect is a language, but not every language is a dialect. - Einar Haugen

  2. #2
    Oliphaunt jali's avatar
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    Default Re: Is true altruism possible?

    Of course it is.

    There are ways of giving without the donor ever knowing it was you.

    Clothing and books can go to drop off points - no receipt.

    There are causes where you can give cash to a fund at a bank. The person receiving the funds will never know you donated.

    You can pay someone's toll on the highway - they won't know until you've driven off.

    You can pay for someone's meal at the register without identifying yourself.

    Kiva.com is where you can give online without the person receiving the loan ever knowing you.

    I'm sure there are many other things you can do.
    They weren't singing....they were just honking.
    Glee 2009

  3. #3
    Elephant
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    Default Re: Is true altruism possible?

    Agreed. I do almost all my donating anonymously. Gratitude and or recognition makes me... uncomfortable. I've got a repuation to protect, dammit.

    Of course, doing nice things for people I know mostly isn't done anonymously, but it also isn't done altruistically. I love my friends, and I want them to be well and happy. That's friendship, not altruism.

  4. #4
    Elen síla lumenn' omentielvo What Exit?'s avatar
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    Default Re: Is true altruism possible?

    Well at very least, even an anonymous gift is likely to give the giver some endorphins.

    However why does true altruism require no award. If we go by Merriam-Webster Online we get:
    1 : unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others
    2 : behavior by an animal that is not beneficial to or may be harmful to itself but that benefits others of its species
    There is much behavior that I feel is truly altruistic where the act of giving or doing far exceeds the reward to qualify for definition #2.

  5. #5
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    Default Re: Is true altruism possible?

    Despite not living up to it as much as I should, I love that saying "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty".

    If any concept deserved a religion building around it, that is it.
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

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