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London Café Philo

Anglo-French philosophy forum for the members and friends of Café Philo club of the London French Institute at South Kensington


    Altruism - Egoism in disguise?

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    Join date : 2011-10-15

    Altruism - Egoism in disguise? Empty Altruism - Egoism in disguise?

    Post  Admin Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:09 am


    A topic discussed in March 2011

    Strands of discussion:

    - Selfishness inherent in human nature?

    - Love, compassion, give and take a human instinct or moral sense?

    - Is altruism a form of hypocrisy? e.g. gifts/presents are often seen as bribery or humiliation to the recipient. The donor of gift can be perceived as manipulator of power by using gift to control the behaviour of the receiver.
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    Post  Admin Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:13 am


    An example of true altruism without selfish ulterior motive is extremely rare. As we all know that reciprocity or collective behaviour is a necessity in the survival of species, we would naturally expect others to return any favour if we have helped them. Conversely, the saying that “No good deed goes unpunished” shows that conventional wisdom warns against any act of “altruism”.

    We may say that paying tax represents a genuine “Altruistic” act because we do not get any satisfaction from paying tax; whereas giving to charity is actually a "Egotistic" act as your donation would count as a tax write-off.
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    Post  Admin Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:14 am


    Rene writes:

    Hello English friends over the channel,

    Well, manipulations (hiding your own motivation in order to foolish others) are quite common, so altruism may look like hypocrisy when it was not, at first, altruism.
    So the implicit question is, is there any authentic altruism or just merely egoism ? Is it the right question ? If so, i will pursue my argument next time.

    Thank you for this very interesting question.
    Ps. I do not want to answer about the instinct level regarding human nature, first because we are all animals on a biological level and biologists see equivalent of altruism behaviours in lots of species (all those with mirror cells actually), second, because, as human being, we respond as socialised individuals and so with a moral learning and learned from a social group. I hope my English is understandable, please don't hesitate to tell me if not. Thank you.

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