Altruism lecture

“Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and central to many religious traditions. This idea was often described as the Golden rule of ethics. Some philosophies such as Objectivism argue that altruism is a moral vice. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness.”

Last Monday night I attended a free lecture on the topic of Altruism, prior to the lecture I was thinking about how I didn’t really now what the meaning of it was. I know the word had been used before but I couldn’t remember why and what it meant.

The lecture was done by Dr. Dan Worthin. Dan was the co-author but his partner, Andy Flescher could not attend so he took it on himself. Dan was actually a Psychologist so we got more of his point of view, one that was rather eye opening.

Dan was I psychologist that worked with pigeons so the examples that he used to discuss the topic of altruism were shown with animals and how they backed his reasoning. The first example was about bats, and sacrificing yourself for the benefit of others. At first blood sucking bats seemed to be horrifying and doing no good but to themselves. But from an altruist standpoint the bats were indeed sucking blood for themselves but were also sharing with other bats that did not get any. This was called “reciprocal altruism” the you share I share approach. The second animal used was the squirrel. We here in Chico see these guys everywhere so I was very interested to see how they fit into the topic. It turns out that squirrels will notify others if a predicator is near. This was called “self-sacrificing.” The squirrel was putting themselves in more danger by making noise to let its comrades know danger was near.

Dan’s lecture on altruism was very beneficial to me. I know I have always been a good person and will continue to be. I found it very interesting to hear about the examples in nature and what altruism really is.