What is Wrong With Altruism?
© Tatiana Velitchkov

What constitutes earnest altruism? “What if you care more about other people’s lives in proportion to their comfort than you care about your own life in proportion to your own comfort?” Asks Vladimir Nesov in “Circular Altruism vs. Personal Preference.” Altruism is ethical good relative to others and pursuit of good in relation to morality; not as a result of emotive hortative or compassion. However what is the distinction between altruism and compassion? And what is wrong with them?

When the urge to do good to others is as a result of pursuit of ones self gratification, then this is not altruism but egoism. As well, if a person is driven to do good by human instinctive feelings rather than powerful sense of moral obligation, then it means that when such feelings are not in him, there will be no earnest altruism. However, absolute altruism, to the extent that the altruist is unconscious of his self compassion is no good as the person tends to good as a duty rather than acts honestly driven by benefit of others.

Perhaps, the best approach to answer the question of altruism is by looking at its origin. According to T.H. Huxley, every major human faith and philosophy surrounds the truth that the best way to conduct yourself is to do to others what you would wish them to do to you. And so, if the choice is honestly to do good, and is based on moral obligation, that the other person need your “good act” just as you would like of them, then there would be no such question of justification to altruism. However, if you do good out of emotive stimulus, (or as a duty), then it means the drive is absent with the absence of moral obligation.

Q&A: Example of Altruism – YouTube video by PaulMcKeever