The term “altruism” was coined by Auguste Comte in his Système de Politique in 1851 by combining the Latin alter with ui to mean “to this other.” Altruism continues to be widely used in this general sense to refer to promoting the interests of others. Extensive studies have been made of persons who have behaved altruistically, such as rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust. Scientists also have made efforts to study altruism, or pro-social behavior, experimentally and have theorized about the evolutionary adaptation of altruistic traits in group members. The implications and associations of altruism for the morality of individual and group behavior appear to be complex. For this reason, further studies of altruism could have important implications for global justice.
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When investigated by social and behavioral scientists, altruism is generally regarded as synonymous with any type of pro-social or other regarding behavior. However, Auguste Comte and popularizers of his work,...
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Churchill, R.P. (2011). Altruism. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_216
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