Centrality

Wiki says that altruism is acting out of concern for the welfare of other people. It is derived from the French word autrui, simply meaning “other people”. Some folks have expanded the definition to include greyhounds, carrots and the odd rock.

It was put to me that another way of defining altruism is acting as if the self isn’t the centre of every concern.

In order to consider these two definitions I have reverted to the very useful Venn Diagram approach, despite reproach.

Imagine if you will (well you don’t have to; I have drawn it below) two circles in a Venn Diagram with one circle representing the concern for oneself (red) and the other, the concern for others (black).

Under this vision, Altruism is represented by the area of intersect of both circles.

No altruism; no intersect.

A little altruism and you’re amongst the majority, but with varying levels of overlap.

100% altruism just implies that someone has just as much concern for others as they do for themselves.

Someone that acts solely in the interests of others is a martyr or completely mad; no altruism there.

One Nation below is egoism. The opposite is the Martyr. True altruism is Ghandi where the centre of concern is equally the self and others.