Altruism Bad

UPHOLDING ALTRUISM HURTS SOCIETY

1. ALTRUISM IN NOT WORTH THE COST
Morris Silver, Professor of Economics, City College of the City University of New York, AFFLUENCE,
ALTRUISM, AND ATROPHY, THE DECLINE OF WELFARE STATES, 1980, p.159.
Given the difficulty of comprehending how societies operate and of equal importance, the negligible
influence that one individual can exert on social policy, it is predictable that even the most altruistic
person would likely conclude that the cost to him or her of becoming more informed exceeded the
expected return in social improvement.

2. ALTRUISM WITHOUT FREEDOM WOULD LOSE ITS MEANING

J.B. Rhine, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University,
EXPLORATIONS IN ALTRUISTIC LOVE AND BEHAVIOR, 1950, p. 173.
More specific to the research on altruism, and yet basic too for all mankind, is the question: How free is
the individual to love, to cultivate affection, to learn to appreciate others? Now in an entirely physical
system such a question of course does not arise; but with the psychocentric view of man, with thought
and brain as two relatively different kinds of interacting systems within the individual’s universe, one of
these can be to some extent free in its differential functioning from the lawfulness of the other. Freedom
could not exist without two or more systems of profoundly different order and character; freedom always
means freedom of thing from another. The nature and degree of this freedom seems crucial to the
understanding and cultivation of fraternal relations among men. Without some measure of volitional
freedom, all other types of freedom have but limited meaning. Altruism without freedom of choice would
lose much if not all of its value.

3. MUST HAVE CREATIVITY TO HAVE ALTRUISM

Therese Brosse, head of the cardiological clinic of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris University,
EXPLORATIONS IN ALTRUISTIC LOVE AND BEHAVIOR, 1950, p. 119.
We cannot indeed promote a universally altruistic attitude unless we strive to develop creativity at the
same time. Altruism and creativity have a close relationship in their mutual expansion, which we shall
examine when we come to deal with the functional unity that presides over the specific problem of
human biology. Besides, if civilization is to be perfect at any given period, it must build up constitutions
and institutions that will fill the highest ideal of contemporary consciousness. Those human beings who
already experience this universal love in themselves facilitate by this very fact the decrease of exploitation
and misunderstanding. But the better they are trained to develop an efficient creativity, the better they
will help to build this new civilization.

4. SELF CONCERN PREVENTS ALTRUISM

Jacueline R. Macaulay, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, and Leonard Berkowitz,
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, ALTRUISM AND HELPING BEHAVIOR, 1970, p6
Berkowitz suggests that self-concern dampens altruism and his paper in this volume presents evidence to
support this hypothesis. To the extent that we are self-concerned, we are not likely to recognize the
consequences of our behavior for others, and perhaps are concerned with equity considerations at the
expense of others’ needs, etc. The research Berkowitz describes indicates that variation in the individual’s
internal state - m the degree of self-preoccupation - is at least a partial determinant of whether cues for
prosocial behavior will e effective.
5. OVERT ALTRUISTIC ACTS ARE NOT ENOUGH, YOU MUST ALSO HAVE EMOTION
Lawrence A. Blum, University of Massachusetts, Boston, FRIENDSHIP, ALTRUISM, AND MORALITY, 1970, p.
143.
So the emotion which prompts the act of beneficence has significance beyond its merely producing or
being the motive for that act. For the beneficence which is appropriate to the situation will require more
than an overt act,, externally described; it will also require certain emotions accompanying the act, or,
rather, emotions as integral parts of the action as a whole.
ALTRUISM IS NOT MOST IMPORTANT
1. MUST HAVE ENERGY FOR ALTRUISM
J.B RHINE, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University,
EXPLORATIONS IN ALTRUISTIC LOVE AND BEHAVIOR, 1950, p. 173.
Whatever altruism is, this feeling and acting toward another as if he were identified with one’s self we all
agree that it is an attracting and restraining force in human life; it exerts power over the work people do
in their overt actions. So far as we know too, energy is necessarily expended in the process of directing
energy. We are therefore dealing with something energetic, in the accepted sense of the word, in the
chain of processes producing altruistic conduct. No matter how far back we go in searching of the starting
point, since the result is energetic, the guiding element may be inferred to be energetic too. Love, to be
effective, must have some kind of energy.

2. SOCIETY’S PUSH TOWARDS ALTRUISTIC ACTS JEOPARDIZES THE WEALTH OF SOCIETY Morris Silver,
Professor of Economics, City College of the City University of New York, AFFLUENCE, ALTRUISM, AND
ATROPHY, THE DECLINE OF WELFARE STATES, 1980, p. 159.
Altruism, or the “taste” for helping others, is one of the higher needs described by the psychologist
Abraham H. Maslow. An examination of the implications of modern consumer- choice theory, together
with the review of a substantial body of behavioral evidence, suggests that affluence markedly increases
the altruistic desire. Several considerations, including that of inefficiencies associated with the private
provision of a public good, cause affluent societies to substitute amelioration by the state for private
wealth transfers. Adolph Wagner’s law predicting a rising share of government expenditures seems to
hold for altruism. Unfortunately, there is good reason to believe that the persistent and massive nature of
the effort to eliminate social problems and improve people’s lives ultimately jeopardizes the health of
society.

3. GROUPING TOGETHER IS MORE FAVORABLE THAN ALTRUISM

Laurent Dechesne, Professor of Liege University, Emeritus, and Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium,
EXPLORATIONS IN ALTRUISTIC LOVE AND BEHAVIOR, 1950, p.229. Social life brings together mainly those
persons who are similar, who have common aspirations and emotions and hold the same points of view.
They are placed in a mutual position of sympathy, a term which also expresses the affectionate feeling
that is inherent in it. Therefore grouping together, life in common, seem to be favorable to the expansion
of altruism. The truth of the above statement can be verified in different social groups: villages, cities,
nations, and associations of all kinds. It occurs in the same way among workers in the same shop. They are
bound by solitary feelings of mutual aid which cannot be found among isolated workingmen. This is the
reason that factory wok, which brings the workers together physically, fosters the development of a
feeling of fraternity among them and the setting up of unions for the defense of their common interests.

4. MUST HAVE EMPATHY FOR ALTRUISM

Jacueline R. Macaulay, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, and Leonard Berkowitz,
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin, ALTRUISM AND HELPING BEHAVIOR, 1970, p 2 For
Aronfreed, altruism is a dispositional component (not a specific form) of behavior which is controlled by
anticipation of its consequences for another individual. He regards empathy as essential for altruism.
Unless the actor responds empathetically to social cues conveying another’s experience (or to cognitive
representation of another’s experience), the behavior cannot be called altruistic. External outcomes to
the actor are irrelevant, according to this definition. Behavior controlled by expectation of increased self-
esteem is also said to be nonaltruistic. The actor must experience empathic or vicarious pleasure, or relief
of distress, as a result of behaving in a way that has consequences for another.