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Originally Posted by keetah992000
some of the posts about good deeds are lovely - real kindness but i wouldnt say it is truley pure altruism
if somebody is hurt or sad it is a human instinct to do something because if we dont we think many things such as bad luck befaling us - or karma coming back tenfold or just guilt. There is also the fear i think that if we dont do anything and the situation gets worse we will always be asking ourselves - why didnt i do more ?
i think it is this drive a lot of the time that makes us act upon our impulse to help but it doesnt make it true altruism even if we arent particularly getting rewarded for a good deed doing the deed stops us having from feeling bad.
would the person who gave you a cheque have placed it on the floor and walked away without even konwing if you had picked it up ? or did they have to know that it was you who had personally taken possession of it ?
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altruism Belief that an agent's
moral decisions should be guided by consideration for the interests and well-being of other people rather than merely by self-interest, as
egoism would recommend. Evidence that human beings do sometimes act in order to benefit others for their own sake seems to count against the common psychological claim that all human action is self-serving.
It's really getting into the semantics of the term, as to what is altruism. I'm not a philospher, but I suppose all of us are ultimately self serving, because we need to care for ourselves first in order to survive, and before we can even think of helping others.
Are there people who act without the need for praise or recognition, either physically or spiritually, yes, in my opinion.