Altruism and Selfishness

Flower City Philosophy

May 9, 2007

Altruism and Selfishness

The word altruism comes from the Latin root alter, which means “the other.” Altruism is typically defined as a negation: unselfishness. Its root, however, reveals the possibility of an affirmative formulation: otherness. What would this mean? Altruism is a primary regard for people other than oneself. This is an important, if subtle distinction. Altruism is not merely the absence of a selfish drive; it is the presence of an other-regarding one.

Much speculation surrounds whether altruism is even possible. One argument holds that any act we do, even if it confers extraordinary benefits on some other person at what appears to be a cost to ourselves, still benefits us in a selfish way. If I charitably donate all of my worldly possessions to an out-of-work NBA basketball player, it’s not because I’m altruistic but because I derive satisfaction from the charitable act. In short, I’m still deriving more gain than cost from the act, and therefore it is a selfish one. The problem with this argument is that it amounts to a linguistic conceit. Isn’t it more accurate to describe someone who derives satisfaction from helping others as altruistic rather than as selfishly satisfying the desire to help?

The second argument against the possibility of altruism is a vaguely biological one. It states that, as creatures in nature, we have powerful drives to survive. The quest for survival requires our full energy and

attention; in fact, our entire being has been molded, through evolution, for the purpose of survival. The survival drive is manifest in intense competition between organisms. Even when cooperation occurs, it is only because individual benefits can be secured through it. As soon as those benefits whither, cooperation ends and the competition of all against all resumes. Human beings are, the argument holds, creatures made for this type of existence, and the only successful human institutions will be those which recognize this fact.

And that brings us to capitalism and democracy. By harnessing the inherent selfishness in all human beings, so the theory goes, these economic and political systems fit our natural tendencies and are, as a result, the most enduring and successful ones. Capitalism channels our competitive drives into innovation and efficiency. Democracy channels each individual or group’s own self-interested pursuits into an ordered, pluralistic society.

Some contend, however, that capitalism becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. In attempting to harness selfishness, it engenders it.