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Altruism
Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional
virtue in many cultures, and central to many religious traditions. In English,
this idea was often described as the Golden rule of ethics. In Buddhism it is
considered a fundamental property of human nature.
Altruism can be distinguished from a feeling of loyalty and duty. Altruism
focuses on a motivation to help others or a want to do good without reward,
while duty focuses on a moral obligation towards a specific individual (for
example, a God, a king), a specific organization (for example, a government), or
an abstract concept (for example, country etc). Some individuals may feel both
altruism and duty, while others may not. Pure altruism is giving without regard
to reward or the benefits of recognition.
The concept has a long history in philosophical and ethical thought, and has
more recently become a topic for psychologists, sociologists, evolutionary
biologists, and ethologists. While ideas about altruism from one field can have
an impact on the other fields, the different methods and focuses of these fields
lead to different perspectives on altruism.
Altruism in psychology and sociology
Books
Batson, C.D. (1991). The altruism question. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Fehr, E. & Fischbacher, U. (23 October 2003). The nature of human altruism. In
Nature, 425, 785 – 791.
August Comte, Catechisme positiviste (1852) or Catechism of Positivism, tr. R.
Congreve, (London: Kegan Paul, 1891)
Oord, Thomas Jay, Science of Love (Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press,
2004).
Nietzsche, Friedrich, Beyond Good and Evil
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, The Philosophy of Poverty (1847)
Lysander Spooner, Natural Law
Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness
Matt Ridley, The Origins Of Virtue
Oliner, Samuel P. and Pearl M. Towards a Caring Society: Ideas into Action. West
Port, CT: Praeger, 1995.
The Evolution of Cooperation, Robert Axelrod, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-02121-2
The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins (1990), second edition -- includes two
chapters about the evolution of cooperation, ISBN 0-19-286092-5
Robert Wright, The moral animal, Vintage, 1995, ISBN 0-679-76399-6.
Kelley, David Epistemology and Politics: Ayn Rand's Cultural Commentary
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