Altruism
What is Altruism?
Altruism is the idea and practise of caring about the happiness of other people or animals, which leads to a better quality of life both material and spiritual. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures and a central part of many religious and non-religious world views. Cultures and religions have different things they care about. People who are altruistic may be able to say that selflessness is the opposite of selfishness if they go too far. When the French philosopher Auguste Comte used the word “altruism” in French, he used the word altruisme to make it an antonym for egoism. He got it from the Italian word altrui, which comes from Latin, which means “other people” or “someone else.” People who study organisms in field populations of the day do things that cost them, but benefit other people without expecting to get back or get paid for it. This is called “altruism.” Steinberg came up with a definition for altruism in the clinical setting: “intentional and voluntary actions that aim to improve the well-being of another person without receiving any kind of reward from them.” Another word for altruism’s opposite is spite, which does harm to someone else without benefiting the person who did it. Altruism is different from feelings of loyalty or concern for the good of the whole group. The latter are based on social relationships, but altruism doesn’t think about them. There is a lot of debate about whether “true” altruism is possible in people’s minds. The theory of psychological egoism says that no act of sharing, helping, or sacrificing can be truly altruistic because the person who does it may get something in return. This could be in the form of personal pleasure. The validity of this argument depends on whether “benefits” are defined as things that are good for you. A moral doctrine called altruism says that people are morally obligated to help other people. When it is used in this way, it is often contrasted with egoism, which says that people are morally obligated to serve themselves first. Effective altruism is the use of evidence and reason to figure out the best ways to help other people.