Altruism Altruism Altruism is either a practice or habit in the view of many a virtue as well as an ethical doctrine In Buddhism it can also be seen as a fundamental property of human nature.
Altruism can refer to.
 being helpful to other people with little or no interest in being rewarded for one's efforts the colloquial definition This is distinct from merely helping others.
 actions that benefit others with a net detrimental or neutral effect on the actor regardless of the actor's own psychology motivation or the cause of her actions This type of altruistic behavior is referred to in ecology as Commensalism.
 an ethical doctrine that holds that individuals have a moral obligation to help others if necessary to the exclusion of one's own interest or benefit One who holds such a doctrine is known as an altruist.
The concepts have a long history in philosophical and ethical thought and have more recently become a topic for psychologists sociologists evolutionary biologists and ethologists While ideas about altruism from one field can have an impact on the other fields the different methods and focuses of these fields lead to different perspectives on altruism.
Altruism in philosophy and ethics
The word altruism French altruisme from autrui other people derived from Latin alter other was coined by Auguste Comte the French founder of positivism in order to describe the ethical doctrine he supported He believed that individuals had a moral obligation to serve the interest of others or the greater good of humanity Comte says in his Catechisme Positiviste that the social point of view cannot tolerate the notion of rights for such notion rests on individualism We are born under a load of obligations of every kind to our predecessors to our successors to our contemporaries After our birth these obligations increase or accumulate for it is some time before we can return any service This to live for others the definitive formula of human morality gives a direct sanction exclusively to our instincts of benevolence the common source of happiness and duty Man must serve Humanity whose we are entirely As the name of the ethical doctrine is altruism doing what the ethical doctrine prescribes has also come to be referred to by the term altruism serving others through placing their interests above one's own.
Comte asserts that individual rights are not compatible with the supposed obligation to serve others Some argue that the ethical doctrine if taken to its logical conclusion leads to tyranny Adolf Hitler is sometimes presented as an example of this and has been described as advocating altruism He says in Mein Kampf. The self sacrificing will to give one's personal labor and if necessary one's own life for others is most strongly developed in the Aryan The Aryan is not greatest in his mental qualities as such but in the extent of his willingness to put all his abilities into the service of the community In him the instinct of self preservation has reached the noblest form since he willingly subordinates his own ego to the life of the community and if the hour demands even sacrifices it.
However the idea that one has a moral obligation to serve others is much older than Auguste Comte For example many of the world's oldest and most widespread religions particularly Buddhism and Christianity advocate it In the New Testament of the Christian Bible it is explained as follows. Jesus made answer and said A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and he fell among robbers who both stripped him and beat him and departed leaving him half dead And by chance a certain priest was going down that way and when he saw him he passed by on the other side And in like manner a Levite also when he came to the place and saw him passed by on the other side.