widespread–and it is interesting to ask why. One reason, of course, is that human selfishness is both dispense with the word “altruism.” But what about the thing it describes? Can we do without that?

When I told friends and family I was working on a book about the science of heroism and altruism, some sounded skeptical. “There’s no such thing as true altruism,” they would say. “Don’t people ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. In 1971, the philosophy department at Oxford University was confronted with an unusual student. One of the few vegetarians on ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Guest Opinion. Altruism is helping without a benefit and sometimes at a risk to one’s self. Animals helping others of their own ...

On the Thursday, November 13, 2025 episode of The Excerpt podcast: In honor of World Kindness Day — we’ve partnered with the Humankind team at USA TODAY for a deeper exploration on the topic of ...

In a world seemingly driven by self-interest and personal gain, one might wonder: Is altruism still alive? Has the essence of selflessness faded away amidst the chaos of modern society? These ...

There are, of course, other realms we could consider—like altruism that functions to signal traits about the actor, to gain social status, or whether the immediate motives of an actor are ...

The theory of genuine altruism, instead, upholds the existence of motivations authentically oriented toward the well-being of ...

I t must be hard to cover philosophy as a journalist. Your subject hardly moves. Not only does it fail to move the world, it barely budges from its study. Thus the movement called Effective Altruism ...

Abigail Marsh, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Georgetown University, studies extraordinary altruism — people who jump in to rescue strangers in emergencies or donate a kidney to someone ...

The fallen crypto billionaire claimed to want to make as much as possible to do as much good as he could. The philosophy, 'effective altruism', is well intentioned – but complicated. On 28 March 2024, ...