How altruism is supported by different scholars

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How altruism is supported by different scholars

Altruism is defined as self sacrificial activities that are done without anticipating any form of reward whatsoever and in some cases could entail an impossible ordeal. By a moral sense Wilson is referring to a bad indicator and an internal good or a sensor that is in built that directs us on what is wrong or good which can also be referred to as a moral good. His theory opines that every individual has an inherent sense enhanced from an early age via family experiences. Wilson also perceives a person’s core behavior to be exceptionally good and that bad layers are only developed as individuals go through life. In addition he opines that man’s good nature is hidden by bad layers that are usually built with time. In the end Wilson is altruistic in nature in that he supports people’s wellbeing without expecting any favors in return (Fehr 786).

Wilson believes that many individuals do not break the law on the contrary they are courteous and acknowledge circumstances where it is critical that they conform for the merit of the social order. A critical attribute about societies is that people tend to share ordinary ethics it appears that these laws are a type of shared ethics for the development of societies.

Freud’s perception of the human race is essentially negative this is because he assumes that all humanity have an energy structure in which all mental practices are perceived to be energy flows that can freely flow or can get blocked up. Freud believes that the objective of all behaviors is the minimization of pressure via releasing energy that in the long run releases pleasure. Consequently he holds that individuals tend to function in harmony with self-gratifying tenets. However, the uncontrolled satisfaction of pleasure is not allowed in human societies for it conflicts civilization principles. Freud is not altruistic in nature, he has not made any sacrifices in any of his experiments instead he has capitalized on other people’s weaknesses to make a killing (Leider 816).

Freud believes that societies are sustained via safekeeping the id from its loose and oppressive wishes. He asserts that a number of individuals can transit further than the ego to the super ego thereby attaining more freedom at a personal level. However, society holds that most individuals will not and Freud supposes that the majority should not.

Homer believes that society has no sin or guilt thus they do not need individual internal control they are rather subjected to social rules something that is rather perplexing because it does not answer where they enhanced the craving to satisfy others and in the end cooperate with them. Plato’s perception of society contradicts that of Homer he holds that the humanity is ruled by an internal piece which is ever attempting to achieve synchronization in each individual. However, Homer does not believe that societies could be maintained on societal rules alone. Homer is altruistic in nature he believes that mankind has the capacity to synchronize and live in peace if they make individual sacrifices (Fehr 787).

In Omelas the child is subjected to suffering at the expense of a whole society. All members of that city continued with their daily activities as if the city was a faultless paradise where they could lead their lives without any wrongdoing. This was realized as a result of subjecting the kid to untold suffering at the basement of a community building. No one interrelates with the kid instead they even kick food towards it rather than giving it politely. This means that pleasure in this case overcomes morals. In the Omelas there is no altruism whatsoever no one is ready to sacrifice himself to save the suffering kid (Leider 820).

The fruits, pleasure and peace inherent in the city is so due to the suffering of the kid in the basement. Despite the fact that the kid’s suffering is common knowledge to all Omelas residents they are satisfied with it. However, those who do not agree with this situation leave Omelas and this is how morals overcome pleasure.

Wilson believes that sympathy originates from the internal wellbeing that evolves at birth. This means that people sympathize with each other because of the internal sense they posses from birth of being good to each other. Wilson is an advocate of altruism he thinks, sees and believes in self sacrifice terms such as sympathy.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is so often held up as the model of sympathy because in most cases people always act in self interest. For instance an individual would give out money to a stranger in order to relieve himself of the pain of seeing another person in need. However, ethics as portrayed in the parable of the Good Samaritan overrides self interest. The Good Samaritan parable is altruistic in nature because it involves one selflessly sacrificing his time, and finances to help someone he knows nothing about (Fehr 789).

Freud’s view of humanity is exemplified in his Penis envy theory where he believes that both men and women in society tend to envy each other and wish to be the other. The Asch experiments were a succession of studies that exhibited the power of group conformity. The principal difference between the milgrim and Asch experiments is the fact that subjects in the Asch experiment attributed to their individual problems for their poor judgment and eyesight. However, those in the milgrim experiment harshly judged the experimenter for explaining their behaviors. Freud still does not practice altruism in any of his experiments he instead believes in using other people to achieve his selfish objectives (Leider 834).

Unit 731 was a chemical war fare and a secret biological empirical study of the colonial Japanese army that staged a deadly experiment on humanity in the Second World War. It in the end became responsible for one of the most notorious crimes against humanity.A project christened maruta utilized humanity as guinea pigs. Subjects for this experiment were gotten from the local population and included prisoners, criminals and pregnant women.Vivisection was the worst project it involved surgical actions being done on prisoners after infecting them with diseases. Invasive surgery was performed while the prisoners were still alive, the esophagus was attached to the intestines and the legs were imputed and attached on opposite parts to see the effect on the flow of blood. All these projects are not altruistic in nature they are the worst thing that has ever happened to the human race (Fehr 790).

Zimbardo argues that bad apples are not the ones to be blamed for evils in the world he believes that severe circumstances and the systems that make them impact normal individuals to start behaving in horrifying ways. In this sense he does not lay the blame on the devil for humanities sins rather he lays the blame on their circumstances. While Zimbardo could be altruistic but his case is controversial since he absolves the evil of blame only to blame humanities circumstances for their misbehavior (Leider 850).

Works Cited

Fehr, E. and Fischbacher, U. The Nature of Human Altruism, Nature , 425, (2003): 785-791.Print.

Leider, S., Mobius, M., Rosenblat, T., and Do, Q. Directed Altruism and Enforced Reciprocity in Social Networks, Quarterly Journal of Economics , 124, (2009): 815-651.