3 ms·
'it is generally well-known that gifts/free things are never really "free"' Although for some definition of altruism, this could always be argued to be true, I
by moopling 8y ago
'it is generally well-known that gifts/free things are never really "free"'
Although for some definition of altruism, this could always be argued to be true, I think this misses some nuances.
If you give to charity (say with motivation being a relief from guilt or a feeling of social duty), I think most people would consider that an altruistic action. In that situation, you have no real expectation of future return, so I would say the gift was "free".
Or similarly, when you care for a dying relative, there is often no expectation of benefit other than from the act of giving itself.
- paganel 8y ago> Or similarly, when you care for a dying relative, there is often no expectation of benefit other than from the act of giving itself. In doing so you may inadvertently "program" your children/younger relatives to also take care of you once you get older, by the power of example. There's of course nothing wrong with that, because that's how human society has worked for millennia until very recently (when we've started outsourcing elderly care outside of the close circle of relatives), I just wanted to point out that there are a lot of costs and benefits "hidden" in humans' social interactions which are not easily identifiable by the modern eye.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoWhat about people who don't have children or younger relatives? I agree that there's plenty of side-benefits, but I think the distinction between "business" and "altruism" is that altruism happens when people don't calculate those side benefits explicitly. Of course, we're talking about a spectrum here, not binary thresholds.