![]() ![]() not ‘those who are close to them’ but ‘those who are removed from them,’ i.e., society as a whole. Under socialism altruism has meaning primarily in personal relationships it is inadequate when people serve “. On the other hand, every attempt to present altruism as a route to the transformation of an antagonistic society on nonegoistic principles led ultimately to ideological hypocrisy, masking the antagonism of class relations. Altruism has retained this meaning in bourgeois society, where it takes the forms of private philanthropy and personal services. On the one hand, from the time of the breakup of primitive communes, it expressed the norms of reciprocal aid in personal relationships, opposing the influence of private ownership interests and other social tendencies which divide people, and shaped men’s consciousness in the spirit of unselfish devotion to one another. In the history of the moral consciousness of mankind altruism has had a twofold significance. The principle of altruism can be traced to ancient eastern moral concepts it was formulated in Christianity as “love thy neighbor as thyself during the 17th and 18th centuries it became a component of most ethical doctrines-the works of Shaftesbury, Hutcheson, A. ![]() The term altruism was introduced into ethics by the French philosopher A. Compare COMPETITION.Ī moral principle of behavior the readiness to unselfishly sacrifice one’s own interests in favor of the interests of another. See also COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATION AND COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT. Altruism towards strangers is particularly influential in the philosophy behind the WELFARE STATE, and is illustrated more specifically in Titmuss's analysis of the Blood Transfusion Service, in which it is seen as a GIFT EXCHANGE OR GIFT RELATIONSHIP. helping behaviour is more evident in some people than in others. Psychologists have proposed a personality trait of altruism, i.e. In these terms all human action could be interpreted as egoistic, but this would be to lose any distinction between altruistic and egoistic behaviour. This last can be seen as dubiously altruistic, since it is likely to involve the strategic calculation of personal benefit, or mutual benefit, rather than ‘purely’ altruistic action. ![]() ![]() prudential behaviour helping others is likely to encourage reciprocal action from them (see EXCHANGE THEORY).social learning: SOCIALIZATION involves learning from others by observation and modelling.cognitive development: moral reasoning and the ability to ‘take the role of the other’ (see G.maternal behaviour) has the effect of preserving ones genes in common Dawkin'S (1976) ‘selfish gene’ theory It proposes that altruistic behaviour towards one’s kin (e.g. genetic inheritance: this is supported by the animal evidence and by the sociobiologist R.Rushton and Sorrentino (1981) suggest four possible explanations for altruism: The term was coined by COMTE who saw society evolving towards humanistic values through the influence of POSITIVISM. It involves intention to help others when used of human behaviour, but the fact that some animal behaviour is judged to be altruistic indicates that there are two possible bases to a definition: intentionality, and behavioural effects. Altruistic behaviour is therefore the opposite of egoistic behaviour. altruism concern for the welfare of others rather than oneself. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™ Copyright © 2022, Columbia University Press. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |