Behavior is normally described as altruistic when it is motivated by a desire to benefit someone other than oneself for that person’s sake. The term is used as the contrary of “self-interested” or “selfish” or “egoistic”—words applied to behavior that is motivated solely by the desire to benefit oneself.

By definition, then, true altruism cannot exist. People can still do kind, selfless things for other people without expecting a benefit or anything in return. If an act is theoretically truly altruistic, the receiver benefits while the person doing the action doesn’t even consider their own situation.

Altruism is when we act to promote someone else’s welfare, even at a risk or cost to ourselves. Evolutionary scientists speculate that altruism has such deep roots in human nature because helping and cooperation promote the survival of our species.

H. Spencer’s approach emphasizes the social significance of love in its egoistic version. According to H. Spencer altruism is the result of social evolution and mix in large extent with egoism on the late stage of social progress. Moral progress is result of social and economic progress.

Humanity performs altruistic, honorable, and virtuous acts not for the sake of another or because of a moral code but rather to increase the well-being of the self. In modern philosophy, Jeremy Bentham asserted, like Epicurus, that human behavior is governed by a need to increase pleasure and decrease pain.

In an extreme case, altruism may become a synonym of selflessness, which is the opposite of selfishness. Altruism can be distinguished from feelings of loyalty, in that whilst the latter is predicated upon social relationships, altruism does not consider relationships.

Some evidence points to humans being innately cooperative. Studies show that in the first year of life, infants exhibit empathy toward others in distress. It seems that human nature supports both prosocial and selfish traits. Genetic studies have made some progress toward identifying their biological roots.

The answer is definitively yes, compassion is both innate and can be learned and enhanced. Advances in neuroscience have shown us that the human brain has neural networks that are hard-wired with the ability to share the experiences of others, including emotions and sensations.

The word altruism literally means “other-ism”; and it is the philosophy of doing things purely for the benefit of others, without expecting to get anything out of it yourself.

First published Thu Aug 25, 2016. Behavior is normally described as altruistic when it is motivated by a desire to benefit someone other than oneself for that person’s sake. The term is used as the contrary of “self-interested” or “selfish” or “egoistic”—words applied to behavior that is motivated solely by the desire to benefit oneself.

Giving alms to beggar children. In the science of ethology (the study of animal behaviour), and more generally in the study of social evolution, altruism refers to behaviour by an individual that increases the fitness of another individual while decreasing the fitness of the actor.

Philosophers like David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Thomas Jefferson made arguments for an altruistic moral system not based on the traditional concept of God. This tradition of altruistic ethics took a hit in the late 1800s following the monumental impact of Charles Darwin’s discoveries.