Elathram

Nesreen Elathram
Professor Rand
UWRT 1102
2 April 2015
Altruism
Altruism is a desire to benefit someone else for his or her sake rather that ones own. It is
an existed trait in animals that encountered many debates throughout the history. When the
altruistic behavior was noticed, it raised many questions about the natural selection theory and
the interpretation of altruism by this well-known theory. From Darwinian point of view, that the
nature chooses the fittest, and all organisms compete to survive in this world, altruism should not
exist among people because it contradicts with what has been said. If the fittest is the one who
will live, then the one who shows altruism is the one who reduces his own chance to live.
Therefore, why those people are helping each other? Humans, and many animals, showed the
world that all people could live and thrive in this life without any need to put each other down in
order to survive.
I have always wondered if the altruism is common nowadays, and if the people react with
the same way when they are placed in a situation where they should show altruistic and selfless
behavior. As humans, we some times have feelings and behavior that show caring to help other
people and a lack of selfishness. I know that altruism is a very noble trait in all mankind that is in
some situations not all people can show it or they do not have the ability to practice it for the
sake of people they do not know. It is selfless act done for the others to benefit them at the doer
expense either materialistically or morally. I have been thinking about the idea of altruism many
times, and I thought about how some people could do very huge altruistic, heroic things and how

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they feel after doing it. This subject really attracts my attention and makes me think in a way that
I want to know more about.
In my religion, Islam, and I guess in all heavenly religions, altruism is a characteristic for
good people. Islam always promotes altruism, and describes the good people by mentioning this
trait. For example, in describing the good believers, it is written in the noble Quran: And they
give others preference over themselves even though they were themselves in need. (Quran
59:9). , And also the prophet, Mohammed, peace be upon him, said: None of you truly believes
until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself. Because of this encouragement in
Quran, in school, we have a lesson in Islamic Studies course called altruism. It teaches the
children this trait by reciting many historic Islamic stories that make this trait favored to them.
Moreover, the parents teach altruism to their children by their behavior because the child learns
from what he sees more than from what he is told. Therefore, in trying to be a better believer, I
always think if I could do many altruistic actions in my life, and I hope that it will be one of my
usual characteristics.
There are many well-known historical altruistic examples that show the existence of
altruism in humans. Holocaust Rescuers is one of the heroic examples that happened during the
World War II. There were many non-Jewish people helped many Jews to either escape or
disappear in Nazi Europe. For instance, Miep Gies who took the risk and aided Anne Frank and
her family by hiding them for a while. Another heroic example is the Martyrs who sacrifice their
lives for their country paying the dear prices, which are their lives (Batson 83). One simple
example in our daily life is when your mother finishes cleaning the house after a long, tiring day,
and makes a cup of coffee for herself as a reward for her huge effort, and in this moment you
come home tired from outside, the immediate reaction she will do is giving you her cup of coffee

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and ask you if she can make anything for you, and she forgets the fact that she might need help
more than you. This is a true altruism because your mom does not want any thing in return. The
only motivator she has is her unconditional love to you.
Sometimes we react to do something because it was the right thing to do in order to avoid
regret that we stood watching or we were not brave enough to fight. We do not want to feel the
shame that we were not able to rescue or help who was looking at us seeking help and then we
turn our back on him. In his book Altruism in Humans, Daniel Batson, questions the peoples
intentions behind their altruistic behaviors. He states Perhaps they felt compelled to act in order
to avoid having to live with the knowledge that they did nothing (4). The author`s point is that
some people show altruism and do what they do spontaneously without thinking about it because
if they did not, they would blame themselves that they stood still without giving a hand. For
instance, sometimes we do something good to the others because we had to do it. It was the only
thing that every human should do. For example, if you saw a child who is going to drown in the
water, and you were the closest one to him, and all people are looking at you, spontaneously, you
would jump in the water and rescue him because if you did not, and the child died, you would be
the only one to be blamed in this situation. The true altruism cannot be forced by anyone. The
person does it because he wants to do it not the other people want him to.
However, some philosophers see that not all things that appear altruistic are truly
altruistic. They say that there is a very thin line between the actions that are motivated by
altruism and egoism. In order to distinguish between the two actions, Batson says, If removing
the others need is the ultimate goal and the self-benefits are unintended consequences, the
motivation is altruistic. If removing the need is an instrumental goal on the way to the ultimate
goal of self-benefit, the motivation is egoistic (89). In other words, Batson believes that egoism

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sometimes motivate behaviors that sound altruistic, but the one who does that behavior wants
something in return or seeking any kind of benefit through that action. Although the actions
might seem similar, the intentions are way different from each other. For example, there is a
woman who has a surgery and has children that cannot take care of while she is in the hospital.
Her neighbor offered to take care of her children, but in the same time, this neighbor knows that
she is going to travel next month, and she wants someone to take care of her children too. She is
helping her because she will need that help in the near future. Therefore, although the neighbors
offer seems altruistic, it does not have any altruism in its contents. It is like buying a natural juice
that does not have any fruit in it because she did not do it for the sake of her neighbor; she did it
for her own sake. Therefore, altruism should be done for the sake of humanity, God, or other
thing without seeking any materialistic reward in return.
In addition Batson writes one may help to gain gratitude, admiration, or a good feeling
about oneself one may help to put oneself in line for help if needed in the future (88). In this
quote Batson gives some reasons behind peoples altruistic behaviors. He says that some people
do good things and flaunt it to make people like them or pay attention to them and make
assumption of them as a very good, caring people that can be relied on. Other people do it
because they want something back in return. Since nobody knows the other persons intention,
we cannot decide whether a specific action is altruistic or egoistic. Because of this uncertainty,
some people believe that altruism does not exist in humans. However, It is better to take all these
actions as altruistic than to be cynical and skeptical about people, and also it is very healthy to
live your life with an idea that you live in one of the best, caring and merciful worlds.
However, sometimes we incline to self-preservation more than to altruism in the way that
we think about risking ourselves as our first thought. Self-preservation is the security of oneself

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from harm or death, especially regarded as a primary natural tendency in human beings and
animals. Our craving to life and rejection to die is the core of this trait. It is natural habitat that
everybody has, but some people have it more than others, depending on the way they were raised
or how their culture shaped them. For example, selfish people do not care about altruism. The
only thing they have, with great concentration, is self-preservation, whereas ascetic people do
care about altruism, and pay less attention to this materialistic life, so their level of altruism is
way higher than that of other people, and their level of self-preservation is lower than that of the
others because they give up life and concentrate on some thing worth all that sacrifice, which is
the life after death. In their storybook, 102 minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive
Inside the Twin Towers, the New York Times journalists, Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn
enumerate the stories of many people who were stuck for 102 minutes, between the impact of the
plane and the collapse, inside the twin towers in the nine eleven attacks, and who made it
through one of the tragic disasters that happened in the united states.
The authors mentioned stories of many survivors who eye witnessed and felt the loss of
their lives during 102 minutes between the life and death. This book focuses on what those
civilians did to live in those difficult minutes. In the story, you will see what altruism and selfpreservation means to everyone. The interesting thing that is shown in this book is the human
nature.You will find both self-preservation and altruism at the same moment because people
were all in the same situation, so they felt each other the same as they felt their pain. Therefore,
in these critical circumstances, people are tested in their abilities in showing their altruism. For
example, if someone underwent a difficult incident and were in position of either risking his life
or helping other people, he would be in a major ethical dilemma. He would either act
altruistically or save himself. No wonder that there are degrees of altruism and self-preservation

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in the same way as in generosity, for instance. These kinds of situations show the different
abilities and the various degrees that differentiate between peoples behaviors; some people
would sacrifice their lives for rescuing others, and others will value the selfness more than
helping others.
In describing how human reacts in difficult situation when he wants to live, Dwyer and
Flynn wrote, On 90, Anne Prosser had crawled from the elevator, which had just opened when
the plane hit, to her office at Clearstream banking (81). This excerpt shows a real picture of a
human, Anne Prosser, trying to survive and not give up life by crawling under the smoke in order
to find safer exit before the building collapses. Also in the story of the survivors, De martini and
Ortiz, who were stuck in one of the floors after the impact, it is written, Then help appeared.
With crowbar, flashlight, hardhat, and big mouth, De Martini and Ortiz and their colleagues had
pushed back the boundary line between life and death(88). This quote gives concrete evidence
that human appreciation of life is very great in a way that it is very difficult to sustain the
thinking that you are going to die in the next moments. You can find this clear when you
speculate on the sentence, had pushed back the boundary line between life and death . We
cannot deny that it is intimidating to feel that your life might end in any second, and it is normal
to try to protect yourself from harm or death.
I want to conclude by saying that when I talk about altruism and self-preservation, I do
not compare between some thing benign and other malicious. I talk about traits that usually
appear naturally in human behavior. In difficult situations, you would see both altruistic actions
and self-preservation behavior. There should be a balance between self-preservation and
altruism. There are many people around the world who help other people in situations where they
both need the help. They do it because they know that humans should be the best representatives

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of humanity. Moreover, Altruism is truly existed in humans, but the culture, nurture, values play
an important role in showing this trait. There is good in people, but some times this good does
not know the way out; it needs help from the person to push it and show it. Even the creatures in
the forest help each other and sacrifice their lives to each other. We are humans. We should be
warmer than them. Parents also should teach this trait to their children not only because it makes
them happier or it is obligated by the religion, but also because it makes them appreciate their
humanity and feel that they can build a very good, peaceful, caring society where the help comes
without asking for it.

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Works Cited
Batson, C D. Altruism in Humans. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
Dwyer, Jim, and Kevin Flynn. 102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive
Inside the Twin Towers. New York: Times Books, 2005. Print.
The Holy Qu-ran: English Translation of the Meanings and Commentary. Al-Madinah:
Presidency of Islamic Researches, 2000. Print.

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Reflection
What was the most interesting thing you learned in this inquiry process?
Choosing the subject that I am interested, and looking for resources that support it was
stimulating. I cannot deny that the subject was the most interesting thing. I loved the books, and I
learned many good things that I did not stop talking about to my twin sister. Also I learned that
inquiry papers may seem complex, but by understanding the research material it becomes really
interesting.
What did you struggle with during the research and/or writing process? How did you overcome
this obstacle?
I chose more than one question, and when I looked for resources, I found many interesting books
about the two questions, and that distracted me at first, but then I decided to drop one of the
questions and focus only on one.
Did your inquiry question change over time? If so, how did it change, and why do you think it
changed?
Yes, it changed from (Is the altruism genetic or cultural thing?) to (do people incline to selfpreservation more or to altruism?). It changed I am interested more in the second one.
Why is it important to look at a historical view of your topic/question?
To have a good grasp of what I am going to write about. The more you know about your paper,
the easier your writing will be.
Do you think your analytical/evaluation skills have changed as a result of the inquiry project? If
so, how?

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For me, when I feel that I love what I do, this means (I am improving). This project showed me
that I can write in any subject interests me, but I have to prepare very well and understand what I
am talking bout, and the most important thing is love what I am talking about.
What are you most proud of in this process?
I am proud that I did many helpful, academic practices in this course. Inquiry project was a new
beneficial idea. I learned many things from it in the way that now when I write a paper, I
remember the professor when she says, what is your argument?, and that I have to give an idea
about what my argument will be through out the paragraphs. Moreover, writing a long paper
become much easier when I organize my ideas and know my audience as well as my argument.
What more would you like to know about this subject?
The book that I checked out from the library is very fascinating. Its way of writing and how the
writer addresses the ideas are very interesting and beneficial. In the same time it made me
enthusiastic about the subject and made me keep the book for a while and rechecked it out to
read it all.

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