To talk about the existence of altruism, Friend began, you have to decide whether psychological egoism is true or false. Psychological egoism is the philosophical belief, first outlined by Thomas Hobbes, which claims that all human behavior is motivated purely by self-interest and a desire for power. This theory, which is supposedly inclusive of all human behavior all the time, does not leave any room for altruistic behavior. All you have to do to disprove psychological egoism, therefore, is show one example that other motives besides self-interest can exist. However, the way Hobbes constructs his theory makes it almost impossible to imagine a scenario that disproves it. For example, Friend pointed out that Hobbes would say that mothers only care for their children out of a desire to have servants or people to care for them in their own age, and that Mother Theresa did her charity work in a desire to either become famous or get to heaven. He also says that a person does not have to consciously make a decision based on self-interest for it to be motivated for that reason.
Friend said that since psychological egoism is theoretically irrefutable, it is not empirically provable, and therefore must either be untrue or considered a tautology, in which something is true simply by its definition. Psychological egoism can be reframed as a tautology by saying that people only do things that they want to do, said Friend, but this statement doesn't really convey the same meaning as saying that people do things only out of self-interest.
Friend went on to talk about why she has come to the conclusion that psychological egoism cannot be absolutely true, and therefore altruism is possible. Absolute psychological egoism, she said, would preclude any sort of trust between individuals, since it would involve making oneself willingly vulnerable to another person who you know is acting only in their own self-interest. Therefore, Friend argues, if you say that genuine trust does exist between persons, you can not believe that psychological egoism can exist. Friend said that he does not believe you can explain many social phenomena, such as friendship, family relationships, and societal structures without believing that there is genuine trust between individuals. In the last 20 to 30 years, she said, our culture has increasingly viewed interpersonal relationships as purely contractual, but Friend does not believe this is completely accurate.
Students then added their own questions and comments, and the conversation turned to why people participate in community service, such as the programs that HAVOC runs. Motivations that were mentioned included feeling good about oneself, having empathy and concern for the needs of others, and feeling guilt about not helping people in need. Friend said that feeling an obligation to help others simply because they are in need reveals a certain moral feeling towards others that cannot be explained by psychological egoism.
HAVOC sponsors brown bag lunches with professors speaking on topics relating to service and volunteerism. This event concluded this semester's series of brown bag lunches, which will begin again in the fall.
-- by Caroline O'Shea '07
