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Lately the distinction between altruistic and egocentric tendencies in the human behavior became more evident. On one hand, the role of altruism and helping trend in general increases due to the fact that over the past decade the global society saw the increase of the amount of people in need of various types of support - people with disabilities, senior citizens, refugees, immigrants, the unemployed, orphans, homeless, veterans, and so on.

On the other - the capitalist consumeristic relations, comprised of spirit of greed and individual accumulation of wealth at all costs, have led to an increase of individualistic attitudes, strengthening of indifference, arrogance and selfishness, thus reducing the desire to offer help, exhibit compassion and understanding. For instance, according to the recent survey among various social levels of Russian population, about 59% of them believe that helping the needy should be performed by the various governmental bodies and not the people themselves. Thus, the problem of helping behavior is strikingly relevant to our society.

Shift of the socio-economic system in our country following the events of 1991, has significantly altered the relationship between people. Instead of collective teamwork, cooperation and mutual acceptance, the individualism, competition and rivalry are proclaimed. All this in turn leads to the fact that altruism and selfless aid is no longer regarded as a virtue, but is rather viewed as a lack of beneficial pragmatism, and sometimes even as a manifestation of a shortsighted limitation. Hence, the acute problem arises, implying the maintaining of balance within an individual human being in general and the global society in particular in regard to manifestations of altruism and selfishness, philanthropy and misanthropy, due to the imminent risk of deviating from the humanly humanity altogether.

So, is it possible to break the stereotype deadlock of current attitude toward altruism in the global society? Is it possible to develop the quality of altruism, subsequently "inculcating" it to others? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to understand the very essence of the altruistic concept and determine the most relevant and beneficial of its varieties for us today.

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunes of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it. Of this kind is pity or compassion, the emotion we feel for the misery of others, when we either see it, or are made to conceive it in a very lively manner. That we often derive sorrow from the sorrows of others, is a matter of fact too obvious to require any instances to prove it; for this sentiment, like all the other original passions of human nature, is by no means confined to the virtuous or the humane, though they perhaps may feel it with the most exquisite sensibility. The greatest ruffian, the most hardened violator of the laws of society, is not altogether without it...

 

Adam Smith, the Theory of Moral Sentiments

 

Altruism

Altruism interpretations

Altruism (from the Latin “Alter” – “the other”, etc.) – is a concept, interpreting the activity, associated with the unselfish concern for the welfare of others; correlates with the dedication and devotion - sacrificing of own benefits in favor of another person or other people in general, - for the common good; in some ways can be seen as the opposite of selfishness; in psychology is sometimes used as a synonym or a portion of prosocial behavior.

According to some foreign researchers, pro-social behavior – is an action, directed to the benefit of others; act of kindness (or helping behavior) is considered an act, solely devoted for other’s wellbeing, and does not produce an external reward for the helper. Other sociologists, however, refer to pro-social behavior as acts, directed not exclusively for the benefit of others, but also for own personal gain. According to them, this behavior can include any actions, related to provision of assistance: such act, they state, equally benefits both parties. For example, psychopathologist V.A. Zhmurov believes that "helping behavior – that is providing assistance to anyone, excludes, unlike altruism, any sacrifice of own interests”. Thus, there is no clear and unambiguous definition of this concept in existence.

Most often, the term prosocial behavior is defined as any act, aimed at the benefit of others. Its range extends from transient charitable activity courtesy to the assisting someone while in distress, various difficult situations, or in the face of an imminent life-threatening danger. Despite the proximity of prosocial behavior concept with notions of altruism and helping behavior, there are some differences exist between them.

Actions, as well as an undivided dedication, made solely for the benefit of other people or the community in general, while own interests and benefits are not at all considered, indicate the manifestation of altruism. Thus, all three terms - "pro-social behavior", "helping assistance" and "altruism" - define the same kind of behavior, directed for the benefit of another, but varying depending on the motives, underlying such action in each case. There are different points of view exist regarding the question of altruism origination. Some consider altruism to represent the purely human, socially formed quality, while others consider it to reflect an innate, genetically fixed result of natural selection. The evolutionary approach is connected to the biological and social conditions search that may contribute to the formation of altruistic behavior.

The term "altruism" was introduced by the founder of modern sociology, Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte(Auguste Comte), who believed that under the influence of positivism society develops in the direction of humanistic values. In his understanding in general, the altruism reflects the principle to "live for others" as a paradigm of creating a perfect human society; he saw the meaning of human life in "serving the humanity by means of self-improvement”. However, as a moral principle, altruism had been recognized and defined much earlier. For instance, Socrates argued that "giving and not taking – is the essence of the moral principle, which balances the egocentric will of each individual. The more spiritual and benevolent a human being is, the stronger in him the desire to provide and to serve others".

Psychologists Charlie L. Hardy, Mark van Vught, David Miller and David Kelly in their studies have shown that altruism and altruistic behavior, although not related to the direct benefit or with combination of variable benefits, nevertheless  ultimately, create more benefits than altruistic acts performance initially required. Altruism in the philosophy and ethics – is a moral principle, based on the recognition of the natural connectivity of people through an innate sense of sympathy. Hence, according to the philosopher V.S. Soloviev, “altruism – is a moral solidarity with other human beings”. The French sociology school founder, David Émile Durkheim wrote that “altruism – is a social condition, in which an individual is completely absorbed by the group and has no own purposes other than the purposes of the group; performance of duty and follow group norms are considered the highest value”. According to the psychologist Jonathan Seglouis, altruism – is a voluntary, free act of the subject, which, however, can not be implemented without committed altruistic action retaining its altruistic nature.

American psychologist Burrhus Frederic Skinner (Harvard University’s Psychology Department) has analyzed the phenomena of altruism, coming to the following conclusion: "We respect people for their benevolent deeds only when we can not explain the nature of these deeds. We attribute such good-hearted behavior to their internal dispositions only when we lack any external explanations. However, when the external causes are obvious, we tend to rely on them and not on personality traits”. Some expressed the view that the gifts can also be called a manifestation of altruism. However, this can not be accepted unconditionally because quite often we donate things to others while simply wanting to get rid of them for whatever reason. Obviously, this act has very little to do with a true altruism.

As can be seen from the above, there are many scientific definitions of altruism, the content of which depends on the scientific discipline, represented by a particular author. There is no univocal common interpretation of altruism conception exist. This is because different psychologists and sociologists make their conclusions on their own observations, guided by their own subjective criteria. Hence, there are "conflicts" between diametrically opposed views, while the variety of interpretations of “altruism" definition gradually increases at the same time, which will be discussed in detail in the following paragraph.

In my opinion, act of altruism can be regarded as purblindness, stupidity, illogicality, irrationality, sacrifice or self-detachment only from the perspective of the selfish mind. After all, an altruist does not consider such choice to be sacrificial, moreover, he or she acts in this respect openly, from the bottom of the heart, simply because this choice seems as the only option at the time. It can be asserted that such altruistic act for this particular individual represents a certain state of mind, manifestation of conscience, and certainly not a blind sacrifice. On the other hand, the efforts of the egoist, who wants to develop similar "helping quality", are usually accompanied by a large number of losses and hardships. Unwillingness to develop altruistic tendencies in retrospect, creates egocentric justification excuses opportunity, absolving the selfish benefit in this process.

Thus, True Altruism excludes the necessity of any external social pressure as well as the presence of any outside admirer, who might be able to assess such a “noble” deed. This behavior is caused by the presence of specific human benevolent qualities, such as compassion, care, sense of duty and responsibility, as well as the lack of such qualities as suspicion, greed and skepticism, which are not conducive to the manifestation of altruism. I suppose that the selfish and altruistic tendencies represent two opposing "civilizations", with a huge informational gap between them, which does not allow for any means of mutual understanding. This gap is determined by a large number of new concepts, which are essential upon the true aspirations to become altruistic;  that requires breaking of egocentric trends, listen to own calls of conscience and, while overcoming long-standing and established behavioral patterns, gradually commit to more humanistic choices. This tendency is created by a subconscious desire to experience the state of joy and happiness from making selfless acts of kindness.

Variations of Altruism

Depending on the degree of selfishness of any undertaken altruistic decision, selfishness and altruism can be mixed in various proportions. Thus, various interpretations and types of altruism emerge.

Self-sacrifice – is a sacrifice of self for the benefit of others. Self-sacrifice is associated with extreme situations, with direct or indirect salvation; it requires a sense of duty, courage and heroism. There is an expression, depicting heroic or courageous self-sacrifice. History of medical practice, for instance, knows of many instances, where doctors, while developing a vaccine against a particular infectious disease, have tested it on themselves for the sake of humanity, knowing full well, that if this vaccine is not developed enough, they will die, which, in fact, in some cases, indeed occurred.

Benevolent, or selfless altruism– poses the primary difficulty for social scientists because it absolutely does not fit into their simplistic argumentation, since this type of altruism is completely inexplicable by means of, for instance, tendency of individual’s egocentric genes towards self-preservation, as modern scientific community, adhering to the theory of evolution, usually asserts. Clemency can not be attributed to the affection, friendship and romantic love, which can be easily considered a mutually beneficial relationship and which in part can be observed in other (non-human) species.

In the mass consciousness, clemency is understood as magnanimity, kindness and willingness to forgive or at least understand anyone, regardless of the degree of their committed “sins” or atrocities. Such act of kindness and generosity includes sincere concern for others (as in the case with brothers and sisters of mercy, as they are referred to in Europe).

Philosophical encyclopedia defines clemency as “compassionate, friendly, caring and loving attitude towards another person; opposite of indifference, hardness, malice, hostility and violence”. Most accurately, in my opinion, the essence of this phenomena was expressed by Leo Tolstoy: "Clemency is not so much a material assistance as the spiritual support, primarily manifested not in condemnation of another, but in highlighting of their human dignity, thus, I consider clemency to be a moral support rather than material provision”.  

Rational altruism- balancing between self-interests and the interests of other people.

Rationality is connected with reasonable and logical behavior. This includes competence and knowledge, skills and abilities, rather than emotions and intuition, desires and impulses, impressions and experiences. Rationality – is an installation of consciousness, a particular mindset and the trait of personality, when decisions are made with comparing choices based on facts and logic, not so much on emotional impressions, impulsiveness, desires, feelings or an inner vision.

Altruism as a generalized exchange(a rational altruism type). Generalized exchange system characterized by the fact that it is based on the efforts made unilaterally, without direct compensation. Anyone can be a beneficiary (from an altruistic action) or it can be someone, who commits this action. Generalized exchange rationality is that anyone who needs help can obtain it from someone indirectly; an important role is played by a relationship of trust between people.

Utilitarian Altruism. Altruistic act is regarded as basis for the maximization of a common good, including the involvement of other people. Example: a person has a certain amount of money, which he wants to donate for the development of a certain territory or a landmark. He then locates the owner of the land, donates the money, hoping that it will be spent accordingly. However, quite obviously, such utilitarian understanding of altruism can lead to bias and pursuit of certain egocentric self-interest.

Reciprocal (mutual) altruism(a rational altruism type) - a kind of social behavior when individuals behave with some degree of self-sacrifice in relation to each other, however, it is only in return for the expected response of self-sacrifice. The term was introduced by sociobiologist Robert Trivers. Rationality of reciprocal altruism is obvious: an action based on the norms of reciprocity (fairness, honesty), focused on accurate accounting of produced work and the subsequent compensation. Rather, it is about prevention of altruistic trends by selfish ones, ensuring the continuation of the exchange process. Reciprocity in this case serves as means to prevent exploitation. This type of behavior is not unique to humans, it is also inherent to a number of animals, where mutual aid is expected by both parties. According to this principle, people interacting with each other within the small towns or communities, schools, workshops or student groups, strive to maintain balance, as the unequal distribution of benefits, workload or funds causes mutual tensions. Therefore, as shown by the experiments conducted, subjects were significantly more inclined to help another subjects in return for a previously provided help.

Some forms of altruism (mutual aid, support the helpless or ill, children, elderly, or the transfer of knowledge) is called indirect reciprocal altruism, since the return indirect expectation of reciprocal services is assumed through the mediation of the observing third party, subsequently awarding a helping party with a reputation of worthy citizen, who thus deserves the right for the return assistance upon request. In other words, a person creates (or, better yet - “earns”) the basis for response services in the future with their current altruistic behavior; moreover, the future response assistance could as well come from many outside parties, and not necessarily from the ones, who has already provided assistance previously. Summarizing the consideration of rational altruism, I would like to note that usually it has rather large proportion of selfishness. Intelligence in this case, though manifested, is corroborated by calculations of benefit (fear of getting less than given), that is, the necessity for reciprocity, which reduces such action to the concept of rational altruism.

Emotional altruism. In a state of emotional arousal a person can act equally very prudently and reasonably, or illogically and foolishly. As a rule, increased emotionality reduces the rationality: thus, emotional people are inclined to act rather spontaneously, exhibiting unexpected emotional reactions rather than consistently adhering to the plan. However, at the same time, people with higher intellectual development organization quite easily correlate their emotionality with rationality. Emotional altruism, in my opinion, has two types of displays depending on situational features: passive and active.

a)      Passive empathyis limited to the manifestation of emotions, not followed by any action. For example, if such an altruist observes a state of happiness experienced by another person, he or she will exhibit a natural reaction of unconditional joy for that person. However, if the other person is under stress or excitement because of the experienced situation, such an emotional empathic altruist, would be entirely absorbed and involved in the story, usually experiencing the same emotions as the narrator.

b)      Active empathyis manifested in certain actions and choices, and very often such an altruist does not manage (or not able) to predict the consequences of his or her actions. Examples of emotional altruism - some parents (usually mothers), blindly following the whims of their children, who in turn often use parental love for manipulation.

Additionally, people guided by impulsiveness, which usually is perceived as aggressive, inconsistent, devoid of reason and intelligence, can also be included to this category. Unconsciously they easily make irresponsible choices, the consequences of which they can realize (at best) only after some extensive analysis. If the passive emotional expression does not bear negative consequences for the recipients of such aid, these consequences may very well occur in case of active emotional expression. I consider individuals of extravert type to exhibit certain behavioral patterns, which are inherent to emotional altruists.

"Extraversion is characterized by the interest to an external object, responsiveness and willingness to accept external occurrences, the desire to influence and be under the pressure of events, the need to interact with the outside world, the ability to make a bustle and noise of any kind (finding pleasure in it), the ability to retain constant attention to the surrounding reality, make multiple friends and acquaintances without much of analysis, and, ultimately, sense of great importance to be close to someone special and, implementing therefore, a strong tendency for self-expression. Accordingly, the social philosophy of an extrovert, as well as his or her ethics reflect, as a rule, highly collectivistic nature, strongly inclining towards altruism. The conscience of such people usually heavily depends on public opinion. Following this definition, we can therefore conclude, that the true nature of extrovert’s altruism partly lies in its high-energy potential, which he tends to use up by directing the inner emotions outwards. This "aid" sometimes intrusive in its nature, serves as a pretext for an active communication and interaction with the object of care, and sometimes infuses the destruction of a relationship with that object in case if the latter displays reluctance towards such interaction.

Altruism, limited by the scope of a particular group, is named “parochial” ("parish") altruism. It is known that we unconsciously divide people into "us" and "them", and this is reflected in our altruistic behavior as well. To one group of people ("own kind" - people with similar habits, inclinations, dress code, social status, etc.), we are more likely to provide assistance than to other group of people, which we consider to be "strangers". Because similarity generates sympathy, while sympathy in turn generates desire to help, it is obvious, that we are more likely to help those, who are similar to us, both - externally and internally alike. The name “parochial” is connected with the typology of political cultures, developed by American political scientists Gabriel Almond (Yale, Princeton and emeritus professor at Stanford University) and Sidney Verba (Professor, Harvard University). They identified three types of cultures: the parish, the dependent and culture of participation, where parochial altruism is indicated as part of the parish culture. It is shown that the support of “own kind” and hatred of "strangers" associated with affiliation to certain religious communities, observed in various human cultures. Tendency to the parish altruism is significantly associated with the frequency of visits to various houses of worship and social communities. Out of six researched communities, this effect most strongly manifested among the parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In acute intergroup hostility, help, directed towards “own kind" and aggression in relation to "stranger" groups and communities equally benefits both. In human societies, altruistic actions of parochial type are usually highly valued, considered highly moral, heroic, patriotic, and so on. People prone to such behavior, are particularly in demand during wars and conflicts. They are revered as heroes, combining dedication and devoted sincerity towards the brothers in arms and hatred of the enemy.

Sympathy and compassion Altruism. Altruism can be associated with different kinds of social experiences, in particular with sympathy, empathy for others, compassion and kindness. Altruists, whose benevolence extends beyond their own kinship, neighbors, friends and relatives, are usually defined as philanthropists while their activities – a philanthropy. In addition to goodwill and compassion, altruistic actions are often made out of affection (for something or someone) or the general gratitude to life.

Alternative altruismimplies that the subject, ignoring their own interests, extends help to others, but in a special way: by bringing the detriment to their rivals and hurting their interests. Homeland security, counter-terrorism, crime prevention, selfless defense of others from foreign non-physical and physical aggression, and so on – are the examples of such activity. Here, too, the installation, expressed in readiness to make sacrifices for the benefit of “own kind”, works, however, such sacrifice not only includes the subject, but also others, who could be regarded as “strangers” or “enemy”. For such cases, a psychologist A.N. Poddiakov introduces the term "alternative altruism" (alter-altruism).  Alter altruism implies the humanly treating of certain social groups at the detriment of all others. It has to do with economics and social policy of allocating scarce resources, providing material or financial assistance to specific social communities at the expense of others. Professor Poddiakov identifies two types of alter-altruism:

These are all cases, where assistance is provided to one person or a group, while reducing the survival chances of others. During the Siege of Leningrad many women had to decide which one of their children gets the allowance ration, because obviously giving it to everyone meant not saving any. The similar situation has occurred on a sinking ship (Titanic), when the limited space in lifeboats was a scarcity, and so on.

Moral (normative) altruism is to act in accordance with own conscience. Compliance actions for oneself or another and expectations of others in relation to a certain individual, are sometimes seen as a certain degree of altruism. However, often this kind of behavior can turn out to be an actions of convenience. The problem with the accuracy of defining of moral altruism, in particular, attributing it to the category of altruism without any admixture of selfishness, lies in the subjectivism of the concept of conscience. What is the real source of "hidden voice of conscience? Does it come from the higher frequency levels of consciousness or is a consequence of the inferior (selfish) manifestations, wedged into the decision-making process?!

Transfinite altruism(transfinite - from Latin “trans” - pro and “finis” – the end, endless, limitless, located beyond the end) - is the supreme spiritual kind of altruistic behavior; it is truly humane and environmentally friendly. Psychologist V.R. Dorozhkin explains that this kind of altruism is not directly related to cultural norms of a particular time, it has an intrinsic value, its defined characteristics are the basic human standards, and it is characterized by the highest degree of love in its every act.

Transfinite altruism - is the highest type of spirituality, a self-transcendence into the world, where the individual experiences himself and the world as part of a unified whole, conveying his or her love and fullness to it.  Such behavior always has a humanistic orientation and a superior degree of morality. An altruism can be characterized as transfinite if certain conditions are met:

a) Correlation of altruism with universal norms of humanity;

b) Conscious detection of specific altruistic emotions, providing spiritual pleasure to an altruist.

Highly intellectual Altruism– an altruism, which is devoid of any hint of selfishness. IISSIIDIOLOGY author, who has defined this type of altruism explains that at the initial stage of eradicating selfishness and engaging into Highly Intellectual Altruism by means of everyday actions, arises the desire to selflessly service people, assisting them in the development of knowledge, offering responsible and strong friendship as well as creative cooperation in the areas of self-improvement or self-actualization. Only when selfish tendency to separate people into "nice people“ and "all others”,   as well as "people in general" and "everything else" will disappear from consciousness, a human being becomes ready  to consciously and sincerely serve the WHOLE. Gradually, selfish motivations are replaced by a new, less "materialistic" and "profitable" ones, becoming more sophisticated and altruistic toward all beings of the surrounding reality. Highly intellectual Altruism is manifested during informational motivation and analytical transformation and application of the existing experience into each of the undertaken decisions. The example of such type of altruistic activity is an individual, who creates and implements as his primary objective, the ideas, capable of radical improvement of global society’s welfare. Such individual has a noble drive and inexhaustible desire to constantly contribute own resources, time, experience and skills, with the purpose of improving the global society and eliminating shortcomings of it; he or she is trying to fill the world only with positive reactions and intelligent solutions, which creates and supports the strong belief in the correctness of their actions.

Achieving of these conditions requires the departure from any negative reactions and selfishness, constantly directing own intellectual and altruistic activities to an absolute benefit of other people, regardless of how they respond to your sincere desire to help them, and even regardless of them understanding you, thanking you, respecting and, in general, taking you seriously. Intelligent altruism is based not on idle speculation of “lofty matters", contrived ambitious mind games of "humanity", "charity" and "virtue", but rather on the fact, that the given individual simply unable to live and act otherwise, even if he or she is banned from such activity by a death threat.

Altruism

Extensively arguing with myself about various kinds of altruistic manifestations, I came to conclusion that their entire diversity is stipulated by the presence of varying degree of selfishness in people's subjective interpretation of the very concept of altruism.

The more selfishness is reflected in an individual’sSelf-Consciousness, the greater the degree of selfishness will be present in any altruistic act, perpetrated by them, although usually people tend to think of themselves in a superlative degree, more often noticing someone else’s egocentric behavior rather than their own.

Powerful technological progress has begun negatively affecting the people's Consciousness: the abundant flow of information makes people more limited, superficial, cynical and aggressive. Sheer manifestation of Intellect, without the parallel cultivation of Altruism may lead the humanity into an evolutionary lockup, from which it will be very difficult to break away. For instance, according to some informational sources, there exist numerous robotics and general computerization projects, aiming for the global microchip implantation into a human body, and so forth. As a result, the individual, increasingly submerging only into rationalism and intellectualism, while rejecting the manifestations of sensory aspects, gradually becomes unable to perform an action, the motivation for which would serve, for example, self-sacrifice, compassion and benevolence.

On the other hand, our choices, committed in relation to other people with no regard of rationality and intelligence, can lead to a crippled situational perception or its distortion per se. For instance, from the subjective point of view, the manifestation of empathy is positive in its nature, however, it can nevertheless be attributed to the act of selfishness because the individual, carried away by his own sympathetic experiences, does not consider the possibility of inflicting harm to another person by such otherwise noble behavior. Indeed, at the given moment this person is positive, sympathetic and cordial. However, the consequences of such empathy, devoid of reason, may be even more tragic for another person. Therefore, in my opinion, Highly intellectual Altruism – is a state of mind, when the motto: do no harm is valued and cherished above all; when it is understood, that the most important course of action – is not a passive empathizing and resonating only with painful emotions (while trying to earn someone’s propitiousness), but rather is an active help, the use of the "right" words and actions, capable of showing to the other person a true reason of his or her own troubles and misfortunes, “stirring up” their consciousness. The most vital element of the Highly intellectual Altruism – is an ability to infuse wisdom into the manifestation of own sincere compassion, as well as the ability of conveying it to others.

As it turns out, any of the currently existing types of altruism, represent either sensory-intuitive, or intellectually-rational aspect and therefore, can not be considered true and acceptable in the perception of most people, because "supporters" of these diametrical standpoints generally categorically oppose each other's positions. However, what if we combine these two aspects, while trying to simultaneously cultivate within our own Self-Consciousness them both - Highly intellectual Altruism and Highly sensuous Intellect? In fact, the IISSIIDIOLOGY’s author offers precisely this, considering it the most harmonious and acceptable. He argues, that the development of Highly Intellectual Altruism requires the annihilation of selfishness, as well as conscious and deliberate work with own Self-Consciousness, gradually cultivating such qualities as responsibility, honesty, openness, initiative, and so on. According to his assertions, the ultimate objective of such individual, is any activity, directed at achieving of maximum benefit for the state and the human society in general.

This is possible through the comprehensive development of Intellect (which implies a continuous study of the latest information of highest intellectual level), coupled with the indispensable manifestation of the genuine (unselfish) Altruism, which in turn is oriented towards the most highly-emotional sensuousness and reasoning. By consciously choosing of own existential objectives, while implementing highly intelligent Altruism, which is based on a solid foundation of more reliable and qualitative knowledge, such individual, with his or her active creative work, is capable of overcoming the stagnation crisis tendencies in society and diplomatically achieving of wise consensus solutions, satisfactory to the interests of all, provided for the profound understanding of positive interpersonal relation principles. Ultimate responsibility for own actions, as well as the control over any manifestation of personal selfishness, allows such individual the complete concentration onto the subject of global public service. Constant conscious effort of monitoring and recognizing any internal cause-and-effect relationships, as well as intuitive foresight of their possible causes, enables anyone to achieve higher individual responsibility for each choice.

Anyone, actively seeking self-improvement, should try to remain focused on the development of Highly intellectual Altruism within their ownSelf-Consciousness. Harmonious development of highly intellectual and altruistic tendencies seems to me as the most logical and reasonable solution. Moreover, in my opinion, IISSIIDIOLOGY has deeply penetrated into the essence of issues, related to the manifestation of altruistic tendencies in society and the emergence of human selfishness, offering specific motivations and methods of altruism cultivation, unlike many other researches in the field.  

In my opinion, the existential conditions of modern society leave people very few choices to realize the importance of altruism and love cultivation. Reliance on the independent self-development of morals of such a society – is a very lengthy process. I am convinced, that a change of the surrounding society should begin with oneself, while deeply inspiring other people by own example.

 

Author: Astaavusonna