-- Posted by TRIPonME at 10:46 pm on Jan. 13, 2008 After reading Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene, I've come to speculate the true motive(s) of altruism; or...is there such thing as altruism in the world? Dawkin's logic is understandable.  Everyone is for himself/herself.  You cannot deny that of the altruistic deeds that you have done, whether charity or community service, some of them do have hidden goals; altruism is merely a means to an end.  However, in light of the fact that humans and animals (to an unknown extent) have developed a thinking process we believe to be far superior in logically and causally explaining how or why we perform certain actions.  In this case, is the "selfish gene" theory simply an oversimplified (or the brainchild of some crazy guy's attempt to explain the capricious headlines on the newspaper) theory of human action? All opinions are welcome--scientific, philosophical, or whatever you can think of. -- Posted by The Samsoniteman at 3:49 pm on Jan. 14, 2008 I can't believe you've read that book and still can say "everyone is for himself/herself". The entire idea behind the book is the selfish gene, emphasis on gene being the key. But broadly you're right, and the theory is sound for now. -- Posted by sophos at 8:17 pm on Jan. 21, 2008 The human survival instinct, unequivocally confirms the existence of this so-called selfish gene, albeit in a very different respect. However, to definitively conclude that true altruism is an impossibility, would be highly presumptuous. "Men are judged by their deeds, not their motives." -- Posted by Clergyboy at 11:33 pm on Jan. 21, 2008 Human beings = animals animals = brutality Human beings = brutality That is why we are called by those ancient prophets "sinned people".