Hello,
Does altruism exist in human , or is it just another facet of selfishness?
It is with altruistic behavior, does the human not seek to satisfy an interest (material or emotional) specific to him, and in this case he finds himself in behavior which has a selfish purpose?
Altruism exists in the human being and is innate in him, but like all other qualities it must be cultivated and valued for the conscience of the individual and the community to which he belongs. Otherwise it will only be an ephemeral and selfish search for the recognition of others or the manipulation of the other through these acts.
Thank you Mr. Rubén Corvalán for your participation in the discussion.
I agree with you on the 2nd part of your discussion, however, I have doubts about the natural aspect of altruism in humans.
Altruism is not really part of the repertoire (genetic or otherwise) of the human being; altruism in human beings is rather cultural and not natural.
You categorize "altruism" and "selfishness" as mutually exclusive, which means that you are forced to reduce every behavior to one or the other category. But what if they are not mutually exclusive? Perhaps an act can be both "altruistic" (benefiting the other at some cost to the self) and "selfish" (serving some interest of the self, perhaps including maintenance of self-esteem). Human action, thought and feeling are all complex and do not easily fit into moralizing categories.
Thank you Ms. Diane Sunar for your participation in the discussion.
For human behavior, obviously it does not only come down to the 2 categories of behavior, there are also, at least, 2 other prosocial behaviors in humans.
Precisely, I agree with you on the intentions of humans in their altruistic behavior, and if there is a benefit behind altruistic behavior, this means that it is not really altruism but rather attenuated egoism. .
I invite you to see this discussion a few weeks ago on altuism and biomimicry. here is the link:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Psychology_bio-mimicry
We should also remember to distinguish between conscious intentions and functions of the action in terms of fitness.
Can you apply standards of morality to functions (e.g. fitness benefits)?
I don't know if I understood correctly, on the other hand, the opposite seems correct to me, that is to say if someone's physiological or physical functions can lead them to achieve something good, it is obliged to do so because it is expected of him.
If I take your example, a person with a fitness advantage, must provide help to a person who needs it.
Who is expecting the "good" behavior? I wonder if you are familiar with "The Social Instinct" by N. Raihani? Acting in cooperative ways can increase evolutionary fitness, regardless of conscious intent.
Society or a simple group of people can expect "good" behavior from another person.
For example we expect a doctor to treat a person, a police officer to defend someone and it is even part of the categories of intention which can motivate prosocial behavior of a person which we call collectivism or principalism
I looked at what is said about "The Social Instinct" by N. Raihani, just the summary is very interesting.
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