From: gts (gts@optexinc.com)
Date: Mon Aug 05 2002 - 15:36:01 MDT
Charles Hixson wrote:
> But remember that the "common definition" was created in your mind
> (and in the minds of others) before you were aware of evolutionary
> psychology. It was probably created via a definition something like
> "An altruist is someone who does good things for someone else without
> expecting a reward." This is because this is a definition that easy
> to understand. But if you were to look at the definition that you had
> for number at the same age, you would find it equally oversimplified.
>
> Simple definitions almost always preceed the more accurate
> definitions. Most simple definitions are "lies to children". A
> necessary step, but not a final step. Altruism only gets further
> defined by those who reconsider it as an adult. But the same is also
> true of number. Or any of a great number of things ("What's an
> electron?" "What's weight?")
>
> The phenomenon you are noticing is correct, but you need to embed it
> in a more general context.
I see no need for a definition of altruism more complicated than the one
you propose in your first paragraph. If altruists exist then they are
defined as those who help others without expectation of reward.
A person who does good for the purpose of obtaining a reward is not an
altruist, by definition. This is true even if the reward is only a
subjective emotional response to doing good, as is often the case.
True altruists do not exist, in my view, but it's certainly true that
our genes make certain that most of us we feel good when we *act* like
one of these mythical creatures. This should be so, because a species
should gain an evolutionary advantage when its individual members
experience reward for helping to promote the common genes of the species.
Indeed the very concept of "altruism" is probably an evolutionary
adaptation. Our genes are more likely to be perpetuated in the presence
of the concept, even if the concept maps to nothing in reality.
-gts
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