DEDUCTIVE LOGIC

PREMISE 1: Altruism requires the acts that bring benefit to others.

PREMISE 2: Ethical egoism can approve of behaviour that benefits others, for often the best way to promote one's good is to form cooperative relationships. [Henry Sidgwick]

CONCLUSION: Both altruism and ethical egoism involve the behaviour that benefits others.

TOPIC:

ALTRUISM

Toby Ord is a university researcher earning not much more than the average salary. So why is he giving away £1m over his lifetime to help address global poverty?

REAL LIFE SITUATION

"I've made some simple material sacrifices but sufficiently small that I don't really care about them. In terms of emotional comfort, you feel more satisfied with what you're doing with your life."

Questions raised from the RLS:

• Do all humans have altruistic behaviour? Is altruism part of human nature?

• Does the behaviour of ‘doing-something-for-the-sake-of-other-people’ exist?

• Do acts resulting from altruism stem from a particular intention?

KNOWLEDGE ISSUE:How far is altruism in human behaviour…

A

OR

AN ILLUSION?

sociologist:

AIN ZU

The public:SHUK

The benefactor: FATHIAH

Argument 1

• The nature of human beings which always need paybacks can be one of the reasons why altruism is an illusion.

When I give something or doing something that benefit others, it is just because I feel

life will be meaningful by doing that. It is not because

of money. It can be considered as an altruistic

behaviour.

Human beings always need

something more. It shows that altruism is an illusion of the

benefactor.

According to Richard Gross, sociobiologist consider the acts of apparent altruism

turn out to be acts of selfishness in disguise.

Argument 2

• The idea of determinism which states that every event must have a reason can prove that altruistic behaviour does not exist.

An altruist is acting on the basis of free will not

determinism.

Determinism is like you are doing something to get

something in return. Altruism may exist but not altruistic

behaviour in humans.

Both determinism and free will can be accepted based on several real evidence.

The Public

CONCLUSION