Existence Of Altruism Research Articles

Учение об инстинктах и эмоциях в монографии чарлза дарвина «Происхождение человека и половой отбор» как основа современной эволюционной психиатрии и психологии

The article presents an analysis of the doctrine of instincts and emotions in Charles Darwin's fundamental work “The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection” from the point of view of its significance for contemporary evolutionary psychiatry and psychology. Darwin believed that man has common instincts with animals (sexual love, self-preservation, maternal, social, etc.) and emotions (fear, suspicion, feelings of competition, sympathy; pleasure, suffering, vindictiveness, good nature, moral sense, etc.), and to substantiate this, he made systematic comparisons of the behavior of humans and animals of different species, arguing that with all the diversity of instincts, their number in humans is less than in animals. Darwin paid particular attention to animals that “gained from living” in close-knit communities. At the same time, Darwin did not see a fundamental difference between the mental abilities of humans and lower animals, noting that some species of higher animals also possess self-awareness. Most of the instincts, according to Darwin, were acquired by both people and animals through natural selection, operating by the “trial method,” because of that errors are often found in instincts. Darwin also believed that animals could suffer from insanity, but to a lesser extent than humans. In «The Descent of Man», Darwin outlined the problem of the existence of altruism and a “high level of morality”, which is relevant for contemporary evolutionary psychiatry and psychology. Аt the individual level of natural selection these traits may not bring any benefit to their owner (and even lead to his death as a result of self-sacrifice), and, it would seem, lead to the disappearance of owners of such qualities in subsequent generations.

An Analysis of the Reasons Why Altruism Does Not Exist

Altruism has always been a hotly debated philosophical issue. In real life, people often confuse altruism with the act of helping others as such. This paper aims to debunk the existence of altruism in terms of its motivation, the meaning of the principle of altruism, and the possibility of its existence. This article mainly uses a speculative approach based on existing literature research and relevant theories. After demonstration, it comes to the conclusion that altruism does not exist. The motivation of seemingly altruistic behavior can be boiled down to self-interest. The research of this paper has a certain practical significance, and the research results can provide a certain reference for the dissemination of social values and the development of education.

The role of the ecological scaffold in the origin and maintenance of whole-group trait altruism in microbial populations

BackgroundKin and multilevel selection provide explanations for the existence of altruism based on traits or processes that enhance the inclusive fitness of an altruist individual. Kin selection is often based on individual-level traits, such as the ability to recognize other altruists, whereas multilevel selection requires a metapopulation structure and dispersal process. These theories are unified by the general principle that altruism can be fixed by positive selection provided the benefit of altruism is preferentially conferred to other altruists. Here we take a different explanatory approach based on the recently proposed concept of an “ecological scaffold”. We demonstrate that ecological conditions consisting of a patchy nutrient supply that generates a metapopulation structure, episodic mixing of groups, and severe nutrient limitation, can support or “scaffold” the evolution of altruism in a population of microbes by amplifying drift. This contrasts with recent papers in which the ecological scaffold was shown to support selective processes and demonstrates the power of scaffolding even in the absence of selection.ResultsUsing computer simulations motivated by a simple theoretical model, we show that, although an altruistic mutant can be fixed within a single population of non-altruists by drift when nutrients are severely limited, the resulting altruistic population remains vulnerable to non-altruistic mutants. We then show how the imposition of the “ecological scaffold” onto a population of non-altruists alters the balance between selection and drift in a way that supports the fixation and subsequent persistence of altruism despite the possibility of invasion by non-altruists.ConclusionsThe fixation of an altruistic mutant by drift is possible when supported by ecological conditions that impose a metapopulation structure, episodic mixing of groups, and severe nutrient limitation. This is significant because it offers an alternative explanation for the evolution of altruism based on drift rather than selection. Given the ubiquity of low-nutrient “oligotrophic” environments in which microbes exist (e.g., the open ocean, deep subsurface soils, or under the polar ice caps) our results suggest that altruistic and cooperative behaviors may be highly prevalent among microbial populations.

ALTRUISME (AL-ISAR) DALAM PERSPEKTIF AL-QUR’AN

Abstract
 This article discusses about a term that is called by altruism. Altruism is a willingness to do something that bring advantages to others sincerely. In the Quran surah al-Hasr verse: 9, this term is known as al-Isar. The Existence of altruism or al-Isar in social life is very important and necessary. It is because people are social beings that always need the presence of other people in their daily life. The method of this research is library research and thematic vocabulary. It is concluded that altruism is phenomenal social events in Islam because it is a behaviour that puts others first even though he is in troubles. Altruism has no limit generally, so that it becomes top of brotherhood.

Motives behind remittances

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate whether the motives behind sending remittances differ for the migrants from single- and multi-migrant families in India.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the second round of India Human Development Survey conducted in the year 2012 to analyse migrant’s motives using the two-part model and the sample selection model (SSM). Here, the probit model is used to model whether the migrant sends the remittances and then the amount of remittances is modelled using the ordinary least squares method. The SSM assumes that these two decisions are interdependent. This migrant-level study is the first to segregate single- and multiple-migrant settings and compare them for the existence of altruism or inheritance motives.FindingsThe findings indicate altruism as the main motive behind remittances for the single migrants in India. On the other hand, presence of inheritance motive is evident along with altruism in the multi-migrant setting.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis is restricted due to limited availability of information on migrant as the data are collected from the migrant’s family at origin.Originality/valueThis is the first study to use a unique nationally representative survey which enables it to point out differences in the motives behind remittances for the single-migrant and multi-migrant settings in India.

Genetic signatures of microbial altruism and cheating in social amoebas in the wild

Many microbes engage in social interactions. Some of these have come to play an important role in the study of cooperation and conflict, largely because, unlike most animals, they can be genetically manipulated and experimentally evolved. However, whereas animal social behavior can be observed and assessed in natural environments, microbes usually cannot, so we know little about microbial social adaptations in nature. This has led to some difficult-to-resolve controversies about social adaptation even for well-studied traits such as bacterial quorum sensing, siderophore production, and biofilms. Here we use molecular signatures of population genetics and molecular evolution to address controversies over the existence of altruism and cheating in social amoebas. First, we find signatures of rapid adaptive molecular evolution that are consistent with social conflict being a significant force in nature. Second, we find population-genetic signatures of purifying selection to support the hypothesis that the cells that form the sterile stalk evolve primarily through altruistic kin selection rather than through selfish direct reproduction. Our results show how molecular signatures can provide insight into social adaptations that cannot be observed in their natural context, and they support the hypotheses that social amoebas in the wild are both altruists and cheaters.

Does Altruism Exist? Culture, Genes and the Welfare of Others

Does Altruism Exist? Culture, Genes and the Welfare of Others

Group Selection: A Review Essay on Does Altruism Exist? by David Sloan Wilson

In response to the question in the title, Does Altruism Exist?, David Sloan Wilson argues forcefully that altruism exists and that the biological mechanism of group selection is responsible. He argues that group selection should be taken especially seriously for humans, since cultural evolution is especially important for us. Economists' view of basic human motivations should then include altruism. Wilson promotes a strong form of pervasive altruism, which seems bound to be inconsistent with many economic phenomena. Although a moderate version of the position he advocates is not easily dismissed, it is unclear what such an extended theory would look like. (JEL D64, Z13)

Book Review: Does Altruism Exist?: Culture, Genes, and the Welfare of Others

Does Altruism Exists? This is an ongoing debate among scientists and philosophers. One of the strongest argument is that every altruistic deed has a selfish motive. “Scratch an altruist and watch a hypocrite bleed,” wrote Michael Ghiselin. David Sloan Wilson, Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University seeks an answer this cardinal question. Wilson does not want to introduce new arguments, but rather to present a new approach to the topic. He applies evolutionary perspective to analyze social phenomena and approach altruism. In this framework, altruism is a trait or an evolutionary function of functionally organized groups. In the first five chapters Wilson establishes the theoretical framework used to analyze complex systems such as the economy, religion, or everyday life in the second half of the book to demonstrate how altruism works, what is altruism and why it is so important for humanity.

Political Descent: Malthus, Mutualism, and the Politics of Evolution in Victorian England by Piers J. Hale

Political Descent: Malthus, Mutualism, and the Politics of Evolution in Victorian England, by Piers J. Hale. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 2014. 465 pp. $45.00 US (cloth). Piers Hale has written an engrossing and well-argued work on the complex milieu of Charles Darwin's early evolutionary theory and its subsequent interpreters. In so doing, he places the current disputes on evolutionary theory, particularly those between proponents of individual versus group selection, into a proper social, historical, and intellectual context. The assumptions regarding the social relations of competition and cooperation were no less obvious in Darwin's day than in our own. Political Descent argues that Thomas Malthus, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and especially Darwin himself, were well aware of the political, moral, and social implications of evolutionary theory. Likewise, the assumptions grounding our present debates can be seen in these distant debates if we take Hale's invitation to suspend our usual disdainful sense that the arguments have progressed since then, or that it was ever simply an argument between Darwinists and anti-Darwinists. Hale begins with a discussion of Malthus and the politics of evolutionary theory before and after Darwin focused on the role of competition and cooperation in human evolution. The question of whether natural selection can account for the existence of altruism and social cohesion produced two ideological formations: one that embraced the social stasis invoked by Malthus, and the other a radical, progressive, anti-Malthusian politics that originates in Lamarck and Darwin's own Lamarckism. The opposition is between those who would interpret Darwin through the lens of Malthus and those who would have Darwin without Malthus. Hales shifts the figure of Darwin from its usual role as the organizing centre of attention to show Darwin in dialogue with Malthus, Herbert Spencer, and Alfred Russel Wallace. Hale describes how Darwin's rejection of Lamarck--and with it the radical politics often attached to the theory of acquired characteristics--facilitated the acceptance of On the Origin of Species (London, 1859) by placing it within the mainstream of Whig politics. However, this invited Malthusian interpretations of natural selection that Darwin flatly rejected. Darwin insisted that his use of Malthus was always metaphorical. Darwin's use of Malthus certainly influenced the reception of the Origin of Species, but Darwin's Origin reinterprets Malthus theory in support of an ever-changing nature. This, Hale shows, contributed to the diverse politics and social theories that continue to spring from Darwin's engagement with the species question. Hale provides a nice account of Wallace's often overlooked address to London's Anthropological Society that attempted to reconcile its avowed polygenism with the monogenism espoused in Darwin and Thomas Henry Huxley's Ethnological Society. Despite Darwin's enthusiasm for Wallace's paper, he held firmly to his views on the centrality of natural and sexual selection in human evolution while embracing the portion of Wallace's paper that showed the importance of social relations in the development of moral sentiment and altruism in humans. …

Wilson's "Does Altruism Exist? Cultures, Genes, and the Welfare of Others" (Book Review)

Wilson's "Does Altruism Exist? Cultures, Genes, and the Welfare of Others" (Book Review)

Selfish or selfless? On the signal value of emotion in altruistic behavior.

Theories that reject the existence of altruism presume that emotional benefits serve as ulterior motives for doing good deeds. These theories argue that even in the absence of material and reputational benefits, individuals reap utility from the feelings associated with doing good. In response to this normative view of altruism, this article examines the descriptive question of whether laypeople penalize emotional prosocial actors. Six studies find that emotion serves as a positive signal of moral character, despite the intrapsychic benefits associated with it. This is true when emotion motivates prosocial behavior (Studies 1, 2, 3, and 5) and when emotion is a positive outcome of prosocial behavior (i.e., "warm glow"; Studies 4, 5, and 6). Emotional actors are considered to be moral because people believe emotion provides an honest and direct signal that the actor feels a genuine concern for others. Consequently, prosocial actors who are motivated by the expectation of emotional rewards are judged differently than prosocial actors who are motivated by other benefits, such as reputational or material rewards (Study 6). These results suggest that laypeople do not view altruism as incompatible with all benefits to the self.

Friendship and Investorss Economic Rationality: An International Investment Study

Hypothetical stock market investment experiment in six countries reveals that subjects are better off losing money rather than gaining money as long as their so-called ”friends” lose more money. Only 8.2% of the subjects either ignore the peer group’s investment performance, as advocated by the classic univariate expected utility paradigm, or exhibit a consistently favorable response toward their friends, which is a necessary condition for the existence of altruism. The hostility of subjects toward their friends is greater in less wealthy countries. We provide some alternate explanations for these results.

Extreme genetic mixing within colonies of the wood‐dwelling termiteKalotermes flavicollis(Isoptera,Kalotermitidae)

The existence of altruism in social insects is commonly attributed to altruistic individuals gaining indirect fitness through kin selection. However, recent studies suggest that such individuals might also gain direct fitness through reproduction. Experimental studies on primitive wood-dwelling termites revealed that colony fusion often causes the death of primary reproductives (queen and king), allowing opportunities for workers to inherit the nest by developing into replacement reproductives (neotenics). Therefore, colony fusion has been proposed as an important factor that may have favoured sociality in termites. However, whether colony fusion occurs frequently in natural populations of wood-dwelling termites remains an open question. We analysed eleven colonies of the wood-dwelling termite Kalotermes flavicollis (Kalotermitidae), using two mitochondrial and five nuclear microsatellite markers. Nine of eleven colonies (82%) were mixed families, with offspring of three or more primary reproductives. To our knowledge, this result represents the highest frequency of mixed-family colonies ever reported in termites. Moreover, genetic mixing of colonies appeared extreme in two ways. First, the number of haplotypes per colony was exceptionally high (up to nine), indicating that colonies were composed of multiple queens' offspring. Second, some mixed-family colonies included individuals belonging to two highly divergent genetic lineages. F-statistics and relatedness values suggest that mixed-family colonies most likely result from colony fusion, giving support to the accelerated nest inheritance theory. These findings raise important questions about the mode of foundation of mixed-family colonies and the evolutionary forces that maintain them within populations.

Emotions Signal Authenticity: Understanding Lay Beliefs of Emotion and Altruism

Individuals in organizations are often motivated to appear altruistic. In the current research, we examine whether being emotional is an effective signal of altruistic character. Three studies find that emotion-driven prosocial deeds merit greater charitable credit than the same deeds without emotion. Furthermore, a lack of emotion, even when accompanied by logical reasons for giving, triggers suspicion. Although theories that reject the existence of altruism argue that emotional benefits imply selfishness, we find that lay beliefs about the relationship between emotion and altruism reflect the opposite. Results suggest that appearing emotional may be more important than appearing selfless in order to be judged as altruistic.

Altruism in business – an empirical study of philanthropy in the small business context

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine corporate philanthropy from the perspective of small business owner‐managers to find out whether there is room for altruism in business life.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on 25 thematic interviews with small business owner‐managers. The data analysis is based on a method of qualitative content analysis.FindingsBased on the analysis, it is shown that reactivity, an emphasis on personal interests, the willingness to utilize philanthropy as part of marketing and lack of planning are typical of philanthropy in the small business context. Small businesses often emphasize strategic business reasons as the main motive for their philanthropic engagements. Nevertheless, in some cases the philanthropic decisions are based on mere willingness to contribute to the welfare of others. Thus, the paper suggests that there is room for altruism in the small business context. The existence of altruism in the context of small business philanthropy is closely related to owner‐managers' values and business ambitions. Indeed, the organizational context does not usually hinder the existence of altruism to any great extent among small businesses, as it might do in the large business context. Similarly, based on the results of this study, the authors suggest that close relationships between a small business and its stakeholders increase the probability of altruism in business.Research limitations/implicationsIt is acknowledged that corporate philanthropy is but one possible context in which to study altruism.Originality/valueThe study provides useful information on whether there is room for altruism in business life from the perspective of small business owner‐managers.

THE MORAL BASIS OF PROSPERITY AND OPPRESSION: ALTRUISM, OTHER-REGARDING BEHAVIOUR AND IDENTITY

Much of economics is built on the assumption that individuals are driven by self-interest and economic development is an outcome of the free play of such individuals. On the few occasions that the existence of altruism is recognized in economics, the tendency is to build this from the axiom of individual selfishness. The aim of this paper is to break from this tradition and to treat as a primitive that individuals are endowed with the ‘cooperative spirit’, which allows them to work in their collective interest, even when that may not be in their self-interest. The paper tracks the interface between altruism and group identity. By using the basic structure of a Prisoner's Dilemma game among randomly picked individuals and building into it assumptions of general or in-group altruism, the paper demonstrates how our selfish rationality interacts with our innate sense of cooperation. The model is used to outline circumstances under which cooperation will occur and circumstances where it will break down. The paper also studies how sub-groups of a society can form cooperative blocks, whether to simply do better for themselves or exploit others.

The altruistic species: scientific, philosophical, and religious perspectives of human benevolence

What motivates altruism? How essential is the phenomenon of altruism to the human experience? Is altruism readily accessible to the ordinary person? In Altruistic Species, Andrew Michael Flescher and Daniel L Worthen explore these questions through the lenses of four disciplinary perspectives - biology, psychology, philosophy, and religion. In the course of their investigation, they make an extended argument for the existence of altruism against competing theories that construe all ostensible cases of benevolence as self-interest in disguise. The authors consider theories of egoism; the role of genetics and evolutionary biology; the psychological states that induce altruistic behavior; philosophical theories of altruism in normative ethics such as Kantian, utilitarian, and Aristotelian models of moral action; and accounts of love of the neighbor in Christianity and Buddhism.Additionally, they offer a new, comprehensive definition of altruism that is inclusive of the insights of each of these perspectives. Altruistic Species reinvigorates the debate over the prevalence of selfless motivation in human behavior - whether it is a rare or ubiquitous phenomenon, something that is always to be considered exceptional or a capacity that members of any community potentially could develop. This noteworthy interdisciplinary examination of altruism balances science, virtue theory, and theology. It is ideal for courses in ethics, human behavior, and evolutionary biology, as an educational resource for other multidisciplinary studies, and for interested lay readers.

Entrepreneurship and pure altruism: Reconciling the irreconcilable? Evidence from a New Zealand mail-order firm

This article examines the existence of altruism in the formation of a firm and argues that altruism can coexist with the most demanding form of capitalism: Schumpeterian creative destruction. Moreover, pure altruism is seen to be a precursor to the accumulation of capital, not an event ex post. Such a notion suggests a re-examination of views of altruistic behaviour wherein altruism is reduced purely to variant forms of self-interest and reciprocity.

Altruism and payment in blood donation

Paid blood donation still has its defenders, who cite economic doctrines denying the existence of altruism per se, the inability of most countries with exclusively voluntary donations to achieve self–sufficiency and the supposedly successful use of selected groups of paid donors. This paper argues that blood donation is an example of genuine altruism where the altruistic behaviour is incorporated into the self as a role. Unpaid donation is proven to be much safer for receivers and supply problems can be attributed fundamentally to inefficiencies in the organization of transfusion services. Voluntary and non-remunerated donation may be sufficient for a country/region to cover all its blood product needs, but requires an efficient organization and the elimination of “spurious altruism”, non-monetary forms of compensation that harm the social image of voluntary donation and obstruct its further development.