One of the most generous people I know, a doctor, denies that there is such a thing as altruism. The absence of altruism in the world does not bother him. On the contrary, he says, being selfish is a good thing. He thinks that people renowned for altruism—Mother Teresa, say—are not personally admirable; they are just warped, hypocritical, or both. What should we think of these opinions?
I think that they are wrong.
But they are also very widespread—they have always been widespread—and it is interesting to ask why.
One reason, of course, is that human selfishness is both deep and ineradicable. The question—one question—is whether there are countervailing, non-selfish impulses.
Most people think so. From the nursery on up, most people are encouraged to “share,” to be considerate (part of which means not giving in to selfish impulses), and to think of the other person—to practice, in a word, being altruistic.
But let’s step back a minute. What, after all, is “altruism?” An odd word, isn’t it?
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