Where results make sense

About us   |   Why use us?   |   Reviews   |   PR   |   Contact us

Topic: Altruism (ethics)

    Note: these results are not from the primary (high quality) database.

20th WCP: Evolutionary Ethics and Biologically Supportable Morality One of the intriguing problems confronting evolutionary ethics is to solve the apparent paradox of altruism. In general, evolutionary altruism has two necessary conditions: a trait is altruistic in the sense in question if (1) group members who have the trait are less fit than those who lack it; and (2) groups of altruistic individuals (or altruistic groups) have greater average fitness than groups of selfish individuals (selfish groups). In particular, the existence of evolutionary altruism presupposes competition among groups, as the second condition entails the existence of both altruistic and selfish groups, with a selective advantage conferred on the former. www.bu.edu /wcp/Papers/TEth/TEthByro.htm   (2773 words)

utilitarian .org home page altruism implied by utilitarianism - altruism not only in an abstract philosophical sense, but real and concrete altruism: actually going out and doing things to help others. felicific calculus, which I have called Mathematics For Ethics Projects will be analysed in terms of their expected utility value, difficulty, effort and resources required etc, by discussion amongst utilitarians. www.utilitarian.org /one.html   (499 words)

Evolutionary Ethics Evolutionary Ethics and the Problems of Altruism by Russell A Jacobs. Altruism is the integrative term that joins their theory of ethics to biology. To the contrary, in cybernetic ethics the linkage to science is not an analysis of the sentiments rather an analysis of a cybernetic process. www.evolutionaryethics.com   (4800 words)

Altruism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ayn Rand argued that altruism is the willful sacrifice of one's values, and represents the reversal of morality because only a rationally selfish ethics allows one to pursue the values required for human life. Altruism is considered a belief, a practice, a habit, or an ethical doctrine. Altruism focuses on a moral obligation towards all humanity, while duty focuses on a moral obligation towards a specific individual (e.g. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Altruism   (3345 words)

Altruism Altruism is a code of ethics which hold the welfare of others as the standard of "good", and self-sacrifice as the only moral action. The difference is that to be "good" according to Altruism, one must hand out blank checks to all who claim a need; while according to Egoism, ones own life is one's ultimate standard of value against which all acts must be analyzed. The unstated premise of the doctrine of altruism is that all relationships among men involve sacrifice. rebirthofreason.com /Objectivism101/Evil_Altruism.shtml   (193 words)

Altruism: the Real Evil - Joe Duarte - Eclectica Magazine v3n2 Altruism has such a commanding hold on the field of ethics that it is not simply regarded as one particular code of morality, but as synonymous with morality. The term "altruism" was coined by the nineteenth century advocate of totalitarianism Auguste Comte. Altruism is the moral code at the base of socialism. www.eclectica.org /v3n2/duarte_salon.html   (1282 words)

20th WCP: Evolutionary Ethics and Biologically Supportable Morality In general, evolutionary altruism has two necessary conditions: a trait is altruistic in the sense in question if (1) group members who have the trait are less fit than those who lack it; and (2) groups of altruistic individuals (or altruistic groups) have greater average fitness than groups of selfish individuals (selfish groups). Psychological altruism, in contrast to the evolutionary variety, requires possession of a mind, and in particular it requires the capacity to be motivated. In particular, the existence of evolutionary altruism presupposes competition among groups, as the second condition entails the existence of both altruistic and selfish groups, with a selective advantage conferred on the former. www.bu.edu /wcp/Papers/TEth/TEthByro.htm   (2773 words)

altruism from FOLDOC Altruism is usually contrasted with selfishness or egoism in ethics. Altruism is often taken to be a positive thing, especially by the average citizen. Some forms of altruism put the emphasis more on duty or moral law rather than on the actual interests of other people, for example Kantianism and various other forms of deontologism. www.swif.uniba.it /lei/foldop/foldoc.cgi?altruism   (333 words)

The KLI Theory Lab - keywords - altruism Keywords: altruism • biological models of the firm • change • ecology • equilibrium • evolutionary ethics &; fitness &; group selection • Lamarckism • mutualism • optimization • population biology &; selfishness • social Darwinism &; sociobiology • teleology • utility. Keywords: aesthetic judgement • altruism • Aristotle • beauty • Darwin &; epistemological pessimism • evolutionary aesthetics &; genes • immanence • instinct • mind &; morality • nature • Nietzsche &; philosophy of science &; politics &; reason • survival • transcendence. Khalil, E.L. Beyond self-interest and altruism: A reconstruction of Adam Smith's theory of human conduct. www.kli.ac.at /theorylab/Keyword/A/altruism.html   (651 words)

Evolutionary Ethics Altruism is the integrative term that joins their theory of ethics to biology. Evolutionary Ethics and the Problems of Altruism by Russell A Jacobs. In conventional sociobiology (such as that of Michael Ruse and E. Wilson), an important "moral referent" is altruism. www.evolutionaryethics.com   (5120 words)

Altruism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ayn Rand argued that altruism is the willful sacrifice of one's values, and represents the reversal of morality because only a rationally selfish ethics allows one to pursue the values required for human life. Altruism is either a practice or habit (in the view of many, a virtue) as well as an ethical doctrine. In common parlance, altruism usually means helping another person without expecting material reward from that or other persons, although it may well entail the "internal" benefit of a "good feeling," sense of satisfaction, self-esteem, fulfillment of duty (whether imposed by a religion or ideology or simply one's conscience), or the like. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Altruism   (3020 words)

enlightenment: OPAR, Chapter Seven Egoism is a highly derivative aspect of the Objectivist ethics; its main importance is not as a positive basis for Objectivist principles, but as polemics, refuting opposing views such as altruism; and its proper understanding and validation rely on many details of the Objectivist virtues. In explaining Rand's approach to ethics, it is crucial to thoroughly cover those principles which are Rand's original contribution, and which set her apart from other thinkers, such as Aristotle or the enlightenment, to whom she is otherwise similar. This is the fallacy in the argument - which I have seen used by several people against the Objectivist ethics - of pointing out examples of people whose lives were not consistent with the Objectivist ethics but who still survived to an old age. enlightenment.supersaturated.com /essays/text/opar/07.html   (3020 words)

Introduction to Ethics (lecture notes: normative ethics) The problem with this argument is that there are other approaches to ethics that are, in a sense, “between” ethical egoism and pure altruism. The ethics of care seems to do a worse job than traditional, principle-based, approaches to morality of explaining obligations that most people feel they have towards animals with whom they are not personally involved. The ethics of care seems to do a better job than traditional, principle-based, approaches to morality of explaining the special obligations that most people feel they have towards their family and friends. www.ku.edu /~utile/courses/ethics10/notes_normative_ethics.html   (8965 words)

The Semantics of Value And they reject ethics which are "anti-self" and "agent-external." However, it is not merely the case that they adopt ethical "principles," but, rather, that they adopt a particular type of principles, a type which is particularly "deontic" in nature, a type which is seen as good apart from consequentialist ends. Similarly, "deontological" ethics generally define particular types of behavior as intrinsically good, and these types of behavior can be called "principles," but a "deontological" view could just as well hold that acting in a stream-of-consciousness "pragmatism" is intrinsically valuable. To re-phrase, teleological ethics tells us to take actions to achieve some (intrinsically valuable) state or end, generally a human state such as life or happiness, while deontological ethics tells us to take some prescribed course of action because acting thusly is thought to hold intrinsic worth. www.freecolorado.com /ari/iphil/semanticsvalue.html   (2880 words)

Why I'm not an objectivist In particular, the ethics proposed by Jesus, Kant, the Buddha, Mother Theresa, or any of the other people one normally thinks of as proponents of altruism, no longer conflict with 'egoism' in the least. I do not understand how Objectivists are able to maintain that there are no conflicts of interest in a rational society, but they seem to regard it as a fundamental point in their ethics. This attempt is as delusory in ethics as it is in economics. home.sprynet.com /~owl1/rand.htm   (2880 words)

enlightenment: Carolyn Ray: Eudaimonia in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics This and the other two pieces, Friendship in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and Egoism in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, work together to present the case that altruism is utterly foreign to Aristotle's ethics and that egoism is his implicit doctrine, despite typical mainstream commentator's interpretations. At the level at which I have so far studied, the Nicomachean Ethics seems unproblematic, though demanding in the sense that Aristotle seems to find so many of his connections too obvious to explain. Although the independent study and the papers were not undertaken with this goal in mind (the purpose of the study was simply to familiarize the author with the philosopher's broader work in preparation for advanced study of his metaphysics and epistemology), nevertheless the text forced these conclusions. enlightenment.supersaturated.com /essays/text/carolynray/aristotleeudaimonia.html   (4446 words)

Subject Bibliographies in Environmental Ethics 1, No. 3 -- The Ethics of Altruism: Biological and Social Aspects of Selfless Behavior, by Timothy C. Weiskel. Developed initially as teaching and research aids for seminars on environmental ethics taught at Harvard, they are presented on this web site as general resources for public use. Subject Category Guides in Environmental Ethics-- Subject categoies within the Harvard OnLine Library Information System (HOLLIS) are listed in three forms: alphabetically by title, alphabetically by author and chronologically by date of publication. ecoethics.net /bib   (4446 words)

Evolutionary Ethics [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] Sociability, altruism, cooperation, mutual aid, etc. are all explicable in terms of the biological roots of human social behavior. Morality is universal, whereas biologically useful altruism is particular favoring the family or the group over others. Could not human beings have moved beyond their biological roots and transcended their evolutionary origins, in which case they would be able to formulate goals in the pursuit of goodness, beauty, and truth that "have nothing to do directly with survival, and which may at times militate against survival?" (O'Hear, 1997: 203). www.iep.utm.edu /e/evol-eth.htm   (3039 words)

Where did we get morality from? ethics, moral, morality, normative ethics, descriptive ethics, Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, Edward Wilson, evolutionary, evolution, sociobiology, social darwinism, is, ought, fallacy, naturalistic, altruism, paradox, good, evil, consequentialism, non consequentialism, utilitarianism, virtue, rule, duty, rights, justice, divine command, objective, relative, nihilism, Socrates, Euthyphro, God, standard Ethics refers to the quality of one's inner character or moral philosophy. Divine Command Theory is the class of metaethical theories that describe Christian ethics. helpmewithbiblestudy.org /20s/grace_ethics.htm   (3039 words)

Altruism in animals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Altruism is a well-documented animal behaviour, which appears most obviously in kin relationships but may also be evident amongst wider social groups. Some animal altruistic behaviour is explained by kin selection. Vervet Monkeys give alarm calls to warn fellow monkeys of the presence of predators, even though in doing so they attract attention to themselves, increasing their personal chance of being attacked. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Nonhuman_animals_ethics   (470 words)

Altruism - EvoWiki Looking further, social animals are often altruistic to each other, and social-insect colonies usually include individuals that do not reproduce -- often the great majority of individuals. Parental care is an obvious example, and it sometimes involves the parent dying, as in plants that "go to seed" and octopuses. This circumstance predisposes worker females to care for their queens' offspring, and may explain why nonreproducing workers have emerged several times in Hymenoptera and much less often elsewhere in the animal kingdom (termites, naked mole rats). wiki.cotch.net /wiki.phtml?title=Altruism   (1365 words)

The Light of Reason: Evolutionary Psychology and Ethics Evolutionary psychology and evolutionary ethics should be seen as the latest manifestation of a centuries-long quest for a materialist explanation of the totality of nature, including ourselves. Evolutionary psychologists contend that the basic biological foundations of ethical behavior are to be found in our genetic predispositions to "kin" and "reciprocal" altruism. Writing in this vein, Michael Ruse proclaims: "In ethics, once we see that moral claims are simply adaptations, there is neither place for nor need of rational justification." So our moral reasoning is ultimately rooted in convictions based on our speciesi evolutionary history. www.science-spirit.org /article_detail.php?article_id=76   (1810 words)

Whitworth Faculty Developmental and school psychology; longitudinal research; statistical analysis; child development; school achievement and conduct problems; development of moral behavior and cognition; ethics in psychology; evolutionary psychology; psychology and faith integration; science and religion. Published "Human Altruism in Evolutionary Psychological Perpective: A Critique" in the Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 21(2), 169-180, (2002). Published with E. Carlson, P.J. Mathieu, B. Egeland, and L.A. Sroufe, "A Prospective Logitudinal Study of Psychosocial Predictors of Achievement" in the Journal of School Psychology, 34(3), 285-306. www.whitworth.edu /academic/Faculty/index.aspx?username=ateo   (218 words)

Ethics Updates - Ethical Egoism On the rationality of altruism, see Kristen R. Monroe, Michael C. Barton, and Ute Klingemann, "Altruism and the Theory of Rational Action: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe," Ethics, Vol. On empirical criteria for evaluating psychological egoism, see Michael Slote, "An Empirical Basis for Psychological Egoism," in Egoism and Altruism, edited by Ronald Milo (Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1973), pp. For a defense of the possibility of altruism, see Thomas Nagel, The Possibility of Altruism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970). ethics.sandiego.edu /theories/Egoism   (1516 words)

The Ethics Site. Ethical Egoism, Psychological Egoism; Ayn Rand On the rationality of altruism, see Kristen R. Monroe, Michael C. Barton, and Ute Klingemann, "Altruism and the Theory of Rational Action: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe," Ethics, Vol. On empirical criteria for evaluating psychological egoism, see Michael Slote, "An Empirical Basis for Psychological Egoism," in Egoism and Altruism, edited by Ronald Milo (Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1973), pp. For a defense of the possibility of altruism, see Thomas Nagel, The Possibility of Altruism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970). ethics.acusd.edu /theories/Egoism   (1521 words)

The Ethics Site. Ethical Egoism, Psychological Egoism; Ayn Rand For an argument that the dichotomous categories of altruism and self-interest do not fit friendship, see John Hardwig, "In Search of an Ethic of Interpersonal Relations," Person to Person, edited by George Graham and Hugh LaFollette (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989), pp. On the role of altruism in friendship, see Lawrence A. Blum, Friendship, Altruism, and Morality (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980) and Jeffrey Blustein, Care and Commitment (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991). For a defense of the possibility of altruism, see Thomas Nagel, The Possibility of Altruism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1970). ethics.acusd.edu /theories/Egoism   (1521 words)

Egoism [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] Herbert Spencer said, “Ethics has to recognize the truth, recognized in unethical thought, that egoism comes before altruism. If psychological egoism is reduced to an assumption concerning human nature and its hidden motives, then it follows that it is just as valid to hold a competing theory of human motivation such as psychological altruism. Rand argues that: first, properly defined, selfishness rejects the sacrificial ethics of the West’s Judaic-Christian heritage on the grounds that it is right for man to live his own life; and, Rand argues that, second, selfishness is a proper virtue to pursue. www.utm.edu /research/iep/e/egoism.htm   (4051 words)

Why are people still confused about "selfishness"? - Objectivism Online Forum The proper division to make is not between "selfishness" (whether rational or irrational) and "altruism", but rather between true selfishness, or a self-centered moral code, or a non-sacrificial ethics (you can look at it in any of these ways), and other-centered, or sacrificial, morality (which subsumes both altruism and Nietzschean "egoism"). It would be a contradiction to try to simultaneously practice rational selfishness and either of the variants on sacrificial ethics. The reason why is because a code of ethics that says you should sacrifice others to yourself is more fundamentally similar to a code that says you should sacrifice yourself to others than it is to a code that says you should live your own life, sacrificing no one to anyone. forum.objectivismonline.net /index.php?showtopic=92   (965 words)

AAAS - AAAS Evolution Resources The sociobiologist's argument concerning normative ethics is not that the norms of morality can be grounded in biological evolution, but rather that evolution predisposes us to accept certain moral norms, namely those that are consistent with the "objectives" of natural selection. [Sociobiologists] argue that moral (literal) altruism might be one way in which biological (metaphorical)'altruism' could be achieved.... Edward O. Wilson has urged that "scientists and humanists should consider together the possibility that the time has come for ethics to be removed temporarily from the hands of the philosophers and biologicized" (Wilson, 1975, p. www.aaas.org /spp/dser/evolution/perspectives/ayala.shtml   (965 words)

What is Objectivism? The politics of Objectivism logically flows from and is justified by Objectivist ethics; Objectivist ethics logically flows from and is justified by Objectivist epistemology; Objectivist epistemology logically flows from and is justified by Objectivist metaphysics. Building on its metaphysics, epistemology and ethics, Objectivism argues that every individual, in the peaceful pursuit of personal fulfillment, has an absolute right to his or her own life, liberty and property. Thus, those who consider altruism to be moral are constantly torn, trying to resolve a false dichotomy that cannot be resolved: a dichotomy between living and enjoying life on the one hand, and being "moral" on the other. www.mondopolitico.com /ideologies/atlantis/whatisobjectivism.htm   (3304 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)

About us   |   Why use us?   |   Reviews   |   Press   |   Contact us   Copyright © 2005-2007 www.factbites.com Usage implies agreement with terms.