Altruism
Altruism is a disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others. Writers have defined psychological altruism as caring about other people and their needs without regard for your own needs. We perceive altruism as a virtue. As such, the Bible enjoins us in the book of Mark chapter 12 verse 31 to love our neighbours as we love ourselves.
Altruism is opposed to egoism, which has various forms. Writers describe ethical egoism as the doctrine that holds that individuals ought to do what is in their self-interest. Psychological egoism, for its part, is the doctrine that holds that individuals are always motivated by self-interest. For instance, rational egoism is the belief that it is rational to act in one’s self interest.
Whereas some individuals seem to practise altruism genuinely, others seem to have selfish motives. How altruistic are we as individuals? Do our motives for being altruistic matter? How can we be altruistic without any selfish motives?
Selfish Aspect of Altruism
The theory of psychological egoism explains the selfish aspect of altruism. The theory of psychological egoism is the view that self-interest and selfishness always motivates humans. Thus, this occurs even in what seem to be acts of altruism. It claims that when people choose to help others, they do so ultimately because of the personal benefits that they themselves expect to obtain directly or indirectly from so doing.
Kendra Charry in “How Psychologists Explain Altruistic Helpful Behaviours” questions if we ever engage in helping others for truly altruistic reasons. She questions whether, on the other hand, there are hidden benefits to ourselves that guide our altruistic behaviours. Upon a closer examination, we may discover that some form of self-interest motivates our seemingly altruistic acts.
We may make a charitable donation for the sole purpose of receiving a tax deduction for financial benefits. We may also build a community centre only to name it after ourselves for self-aggrandisement. Similarly, we may perform an act of generosity with the expectation of reciprocation from the receiving party. In the same vein, we may give alms to the poor in order to appear sanctimonious to society. We therefore realise that we carry out these acts with selfish motives.
Do our motives matter?
However, when we carry out an act of altruism, do our motives matter? If we have a selfish motive for being altruistic, does it make our act of altruism less effective? You may give a loaf of bread to a hungry beggar out of a genuine desire to help the beggar. You may also do this in order to be seen by others as generous. To the hungry beggar however, you have fulfilled a need and he does not care about your motive for doing so, be it selfish or unselfish. Does your motive for helping affect the effectiveness of the act? At the end of the day, you have fed the hungry beggar.
We may acknowledge that our motives for helping someone may not affect the effectiveness of the act. However, when we have selfish motives for being altruistic and we pretend to act out of unselfish motives, we deceive and manipulate others into perceiving us to be what we are not. We may end up living a lie. As a result we may have feelings of guilt and shame. And it is not possible to deceive everyone all the time as stated by Abraham Lincoln. He stated that “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
The Practice of Altruism without Selfish Motives
So how can we practise altruism without any selfish motives? To do so, our genuine actions should come from the heart. Antoine de Saint-Exupery in “The Little Prince” states that “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye”.
We must also practise altruism with all our heart, in order for it to be genuine. The book of Colossians chapter 3, verse 23 of the Bible states that, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for human beings.” When we do things from our heart and with all our heart, people perceive this as genuine.
Another way to practise altruism without any selfish motives is to have an altruistic perspective. According to Kristen Renwick Monroe in “The Roots of Moral Courage”, an altruistic perspective is a particular way of looking at the world. With this perspective, altruists see themselves as bound to others through their own common humanity.
She states that the altruist sees a human being where the rest of us see a stranger. She notes that this world view is a great part of the altruist’s basic identity. As such, it makes it simply unimaginable for the altruist to engage some actions such as turning away from those in need. Thus when we have an altruistic perspective, this will move us to help others in need. This is because it will be part and parcel of us to help others.
We can also practise altruism without any selfish motives by showing empathy to others. According to Steve Taylor in “Pure Altruism – the Connection that Explains Why We Help Strangers”, pure altruism is rooted in empathy. He states that empathy creates a connection that enables us to feel compassion. He notes that as such, we can sense the suffering of others. He notes that this gives rise to an impulse to alleviate their suffering, which in turn gives rise to altruistic acts.
Finally, to practise altruism without any selfish motives, we need to have a passion for altruism. Passion is said to be the greatest motivator. This is as shown in the Nigerian proverb, “Send a boy where he wants to go and you’ll see his best pace.” When we have a passion to be kind and helpful to others and when we genuinely enjoy seeing other people happy, we are less likely to engage in acts of altruism only for our own selfish purposes.
Conclusion
May we all strive to be altruistic in a bid to make the world a better place.
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