Q&A: Altruism
Altruism
Question
As I understand it, you believe in altruistic actions.
My question is:
A. What does science say about the subject, and is there documentation of such an action?
B. Morality is embedded in us. A moral act is done מתוך the feeling that this is what should be done. If a person acts against his intuition, he may become confused and feel regret and confusion—bad feelings. So when a person follows his way of thinking, he actually feels good about it, and so there is in fact a hedonistic aspect to the matter.
Doesn’t this lead to the conclusion that an act cannot stem from a purely moral motive alone?
Answer
See column 120, and if you have a question, raise it there.
As far as I understand, science has nothing to say about this matter. It is a question of definitions and assumptions.