PHI 1103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Foal, Psychological Egoism, Joseph Butler
9 May 2016
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The word was coined by the french philosopher auguste comte in french as altruism as an antonym of egoism. He derived it from the italian word altrui which in turn was derived from the latin wird alteri meaning other people or somebody else . The belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well being of others. Altruism is a moral theory that holds that we do at least sometimes act in such a way our actions benefit others. And that such actions are done with the conscious intentions of helping others. Altruistic behaviour is something we might assume takes place every day for instance. A person stops to help an elderly member of the society across a street. An adult donates his time at a local charity. However it is not clear what this sort of altruistic behaviour actually comprises or whether genuine altruism really exist.
