Altruism

Origin of the word

The word altruism appairait for the first time in 1854 in the " Catechism positivist " of Auguste Count i.e. during the phase known as " religieuse" positivism. It indicates an attitude of attachment, of kindness, even of veneration towards Others, which results from a feeling of love Instinct yew or considered for the other.

The Argentinian Psychoanalyst Raquel Capurro, also Philosopher of formation, described precisely under which conditions Auguste Count worked out the " religion" positivist: Count falls very in love with Clotilde from Are worth in 1845, at this point in time it catches the Tuberculose, and dies one year later. Auguste Count has evil to make his mourning: collecting itself in the church holy Paul close to the apartment of Clotilde to Be worth, it invents a species of " Religion " of the humanity, which it describes as Fétichisme: the Ethnologie was with the mode at that time, and one discovered these practices in the Culte S African.

According to Emile Maximilien Paul Littré, which developed the doctrines positivist, the altruism comes “from the need for liking, which is imposed to him basically by the union of the sexes so that it remains like species”.

Definitions

In the terms of utilitarian philosophy , an “altruistic” act is an act where one seeks to maximize the Bénéfice others, while the benefit or the loss for the author is not taken into account (which there exists or not).

Approaches religious and ethical

Christianity

The question of the attitude to adopt compared to Others concerns the Amour.

Love you to them ones the others as I loved you (extracted the speech of the Cène in the Gospel of Jean, kind of will of Jesus before the Crucifixion, to see Jn 15,9-17 especially, and chapters 13 to 17 of Jean saint).

Certain Christian attitudes can make think of altruism: holy Martin, Holy Vincent of Paul, Frederic Ozanam, Abbot Pierre, Mother Teresa, Sister Emmanuelle…

These Christian personalities adopted in their life an attitude of Charité. One can notice that they do not have in fact have children.

Two examples make it possible to show that Christians made radically different decisions according to the context and of their personal situation, in which intervenes the concept of family:

Second world war: In a Concentration camp, the father Maximilien Kolbe request that one carries out it in the place of a father (altruism?) : it will be canonized.

Maurice Genevoix showed that testimonys of the First World War were filtered according to positivists criteria.

Other texts of the Gospels who refer very well to the relationship with others are the following:

" Jesus says to him: You will love the Lord your God of all your heart, all your heart and all your spirit: here largest and first command. The second is similar for him. You will like your next like you-même" (MT 22,37-39).

This command is the result of the commands of the Ancienne Alliance collected by Moïse (Ten commands).

" That which loves his/her father or his mother more than me is not worthy of me; that which loves his/her son or his daughter more than me is not worthy of moi" (MT 10,37).

This means that the love of God is most important. One should not place the interests of its family above God. On the other hand, the next one is on the same level as oneself.

In the tradition of the Église, which was formalized in the Histoire, one considers that there exist three theological Virtues: Faith, hope, and Charity. There exist also four cardinal Virtues: prudence, temperance, force, Justice.

The altruism term does not appear in the Catéchisme of the Catholic church, nor in the vocabulary of the catholic priest S . On the other hand, the terms are found: Charity, Love, Social, company, Citizen S, choice.

Other religions

In Islam, the altruism is one of the greatest virtues which consists of this nobility of the heart, synonymous with the negation of oneself with the profit of an other being in the need or a critical indigence; and this in the only concern of liking God. Several Koranic verses and hadiths (traditions) exhort the believer to avoid this generosity of the heart while being subjected to the precepts of God: {And they nourish, for the love of the lord, the poor one, the orphan and the prisoner, “We nourish you for the love of Allah; we await to you neither reward nor gratitude”} (Sourate 76; Verse 8-9)

{Adore Allah and do not give Him any associate. Act with kindness towards (your) father and mother, the close relations, the orphans, the poor, the close close relation, the remote neighbor, the colleague and the traveller, and the slaves in your possession, because Allah does not like, in truth, the presumptuous one, the arrogant one,} (Sourate 4; Verse 36 of Coran)

The altruism constitutes supreme quality in the love of next, the confraternity and the abnegation. This act concerns even piety: {pious kindness does not consist in turning your faces towards Raising or the Setting one. But pious kindness is to believe in Allah, at last Day, the Angels, the Book and the prophets, to give of sound well, some love that one has of it, with the close relations, the orphans, needy, the poor travellers and those which require the assistance and to untie the yokes, to achieve Salat and to discharge Zakat. And those which fill their engagements when they engaged, those which are enduring in misery, the disease and when the engagements make rage, here are the veracious ones and here are pious truths!} (Sourate 2; Verse 177 of Coran)

Imam Al Ghazali divided the altruism into three degrees:

- First is that you regard your next as a servant, i.e. you give him that which you do not need.

- Second is that you regard it as your equal, that you divisions thus with him.

- Third is that you put your next in a degree higher than the tien, which means that you start by meeting his needs before occupying you of your own requirements.

They are the three degrees of the altruism, each one can choose the degree which he wants to reach while knowing that God known as: “You would not reach to it (true) piety only if you made generosities of what you cherish. All of which you made generosities, Allah knows it certainly well. ” (Sourate 3; Verse 92 of Coran) . And the Mahomet prophet said: “No one is really believer only when he likes for his brother what he likes for itself. ”

The altruism can reach incomparable degrees like the self-sacrifice and of its life, in the assent and the joy. An edifying example of abnegation is given to us by the companions of the prophet: {people who had not left their hearths and were converted, accommodated with love those which emigrated towards them; they did not conceive any desire for E which was given to these emigrants; quite to the contrary, they went until preferring them with them same in spite of their poverty. Happy are those which preserve meanness} (Sourate 59; Verse 9 of Coran)

And it is reported that at the time of the battle of Yarmouk in 636, Ikrima Ibn Abi Jahl was among wounded. His/her cousin, who belonged to medical staff, saw it and ran towards him. He leant towards him to give him to drinking, but at the same time, Ikrima heard a man wounded beside him, to require to drink. He says to his cousin: Give to drinking to him in first. But hardly, it had approached glass of the mouth of this man whom third wounded also required to drink. The man known as: “By God I would not drink before him”. The cousin went thus from a casualty to another and each one refused to drink and designated its neighbor by saying that it was to be more thirsty because its wounds were more serious, until it returned towards Ikrima that it found dead. There Ikrima gave what it has of more invaluable: its life.

But the highest degree of the altruism is to refuse to follow its inclinations in favor of the orders of God. The Muhammad prophet known as: “No one is really believer only when its leaning is in conformity so that I brought”

God asks to be very respectful with the parents: {We ordered with the man benevolence towards his father and mother; his/her mother carried it for him pains on sorrow: its weaning takes place at two years. Would be grateful towards Me like towards your parents. Towards Me is the destination.} (Sourate 31; Verse 14 of Coran) .

Besides it places them on Its level in verse 151 of the sourate 6 of Coran: {Say: “Come, I will recite what your Lord prohibited to you: do not associate anything to Him; and be beneficial towards your father and mother. ” Here what recommended to you to do; perhaps will include/understand you.} .

All the same, the orders of the parents do not pass before those of God according to the word of the Muhammad prophet who says: “No obedience to the creature in disobedience to the Creator” God called in Coran: {Certainly, Allah orders equity, the benevolence and the assistance with the close relations. And It prohibits turpitude, the reprehensible act and the rebellion. It exhorts you so that you remembered.} (Sourate 16; Verse 90 of Coran) He preaches equity but even at the time of the distribution of the heritage, which is very precise shares, He imposes that one offers a part of it to needy and that one respects his word: {all We designated heirs for what their father and mother, their close relatives leave them, and those towards which, of your own hands, you engaged, give their thus their share, because Allah, in truth, is pilot of all.} (Sourate 4; Verse 33 of Coran) {And when the close relatives, the orphans, the needy ones attend the division, offer to them something of the heritage, and suitably speak to them.} (Sourate 4; Verse 8 of Coran)

According to a word of the Mahomet prophet, that which adopts an orphan and educates it suitably is like the two fingers of the hand with him.

Part of the spoils of war must be versed with the needy one: {And will know that, of any spoils that you collected, the fifth belongs to Allah, to the messenger, his close relatives, to the orphans, to the poor, and to the travellers (in distress), if you believe in Allah and what We reduced on Our servant, the day of the Understanding: the day when the two groups had met, and Allah is Omnipotent).} (Sourate 8; Verse 41 of Coran)

{the spoils coming goods from the inhabitants of the cities, that Allah granted without combat to Its Messenger, belongs to Allah, to the Messenger, to the close relatives, to the orphans, to the poor and to the traveller in distress, so that does not circulate among the only rich person among you. Take what the Messenger gives you; and what it prohibits to you, go away of; and fear Allah because Allah is hard in punishment.} (Sourate 59; Verse 7 of Coran)

While acting with altruism, the believer can thus be happy ici-bas world and in beyond: {It although you will have made for the safety of your heart, you will find it near God in the form of happiness or of a greater grace which will be worth you a splendid reward} (Sourate 73; Verse 20)

An ethics in the religions?

It is seen that it is difficult to apply the concept of altruism, without skewing certain moral private interests, in particular .

Nevertheless it is possible to apply certain criteria ethical S, in particular when it is question of Owe S, in the education for example, which engages the future generations, and which it is not necessarily incompatible with the Religion S.

Questions raised by the altruism

Motivation of the not involved action

Before the word altruism even is not created him, the possibility of a fully not involved action was questioned. In such a context, the borders between the concepts of selfishness and altruism can be questioned.

In the Bases of the metaphysics of manners, Kant writes that it is never possible to know the last motivation of an action.

According to Auguste Count and Littré, the altruism comes from the sexual appetite which, “growing in complexity and refinement”, can become one of the essential components of the moral direction and the source of the noblest actions of the human ones.

Cause love of others

Certain designs " éthiques" can make call at the end of altruism, to indicate an attitude which takes into account the needs and the wishes of the others before oneself, and sometimes even against oneself. These designs are rather frequent in the “Positivisme English”, where one is not afraid to mix the altruism and the religion. See.

Utility of the altruistic action

The Game theory easily built examples where the altruism can provide better results for the protagonists of a situation that selfishness (see Dilemme of the prisoner). On this basis, it could highlight that, although the conditions to see the altruism appearing are rather weak, the benefit of the altruism can be large for the individual, while the benefit for others of selfishness can be quite as important! It is the result of the chance.

One badly however sees how an attitude which does not examine in-depth, for an organization, moral context and interests, so much , family, which financial of the recipients, can make a success of, which raises the ethical question of the bases S.

The altruism in the human fields

In Geopolitical

One sees badly how the behavior of an political official who would not take account of the interests of the involved parties could have any credit:

Is the person is naive, and the interests of the country which it controls are not well defended,
Is on the contrary the person seeks to mask other motivations.

However, a third assumption is possible, and could justify such a behavior: perhaps such a person in charge would like by his attitude to militate for a renewed political behavior, which would take as a starting point steps such that of Ghandi, or that preached by the " third voie" Christian woman.

In the trade

The altruism is almost unimaginable in the trade. It is incompatible with the research of the profit of a business firm. One sees badly how a concept which is unaware of the concept of interest can apply to the trade. So that a relation customer-supplier is perennial, it is necessary that there are profits balanced between the customer and the supplier. It is thus a relation of lump of a woman.

However, the pressure of the consumers for biological modes of production, equitable or respectful of the environment, can inflect the blind law of the profit. Then, commercial could be described like altruist by selfishness.

In education

One sees badly how a father of family could be completely not involved compared to the future in his children.

See: Ethical and education.

Compared to the ecological problems

The desire that the human beings, ecologist S or not, can have to act in a way in conformity with the requirements of Environnement (see the duties that implies the Charte of the environment in France, or Green Charter signed in Australia), led to situations which can be against the interests of the people who take this route.

Actually, so of the individuals engage, it is well by solidarity with their similar, in order to lead to results in conformity with interests which are not only financial, but also moral: which natural heritage to leave with his/her children (generally with the future generations), from a point of view of Responsibility compared to requirements for Sustainable development.

Such attitudes can lead to behaviors and with philosophies such as the consensalism (in the Anglo-Saxon mode), which do not take inevitably counts all the aspects of the ethical of them.

The concept of altruism shows its limits, because there is many interests, which certainly are not only financial, but also moral (or ethics).

The altruism in biology and sociobiology

Although this type of behavior seems a priori to be contradictory compared to principles stated about the Natural selection, a finer examination by the Sociobiologie of the mechanisms to work, of the levels of genetic selection, and expression of the individuals, shows that a behavior which takes account of others can be " sélectionné".

In addition,

to seek to maximize the benefit for others supposes to have an good idea of it, which is often more difficult than the theory envisages it. People do not have the same preferences inevitably as the author of the act…
an act which seems to us “well”, like an altruistic act, gets pleasure with his author, which brings it closer to a purely egoistic act. In addition, generally perceived like a value by the others, the altruism improves the social image of that which in fact use.

Thus, if one generally opposes the altruism to the selfishness, it appears that often the distinction between the two is rather difficult to perceive. For including/understanding this concept well, it is necessary to exceed the reflection based on the oneself and to see the interdependence which join together the human beings in particular and the living beings in general.

See the article Selection of parentèle

A situation: the parabola of little old woman

“An old man evokes with his wife a memory. The first day of their meeting, they divided the bread. It is him which crossed, without thinking of it, as it made with its practice: the crust on a side, crumb of the other. It left the best to his (future) wife, who took it with joy. They continued to divide the bread thus. And well you see, says the man, during all this time that pleased well to me to eat the piece which I hated, only for the pleasure of seeing you benefitting from my preferred piece. And the woman of smiling while thinking: I include/understand, it was the same thing for me…”

Another more suitable term?

There exists another term to indicate a mode of intuitive Connaissance of Others: the Empathie, which is the " capacity to put at the place of the other " (definition of Petit Larousse). However, this term can seem to put aside the aspiration and the implementation of an altruistic action.

Internal bonds

On the philosophical concepts

Others
List of the concepts of philosophy

On ethics and the Ethical religion

| Méta-ethics | Owe
Charité | theological Virtues |

Utilitarianism

To deepen

Catechism of the Encyclical Catholic church
S: Fides and Ratio, Deus caritas is (God is charity): to appear.
catholic Position on the altruism: New Advent knowing the Anglo-Saxon culture well

External bond

Jon Elster, satisfying, twelve recordings of course one hour on satisfying (concept somewhat different from that of altruism)

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