The Helix Center for Interdisciplinary Investigation of the New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute Altruism and Empathy Saturday, June 8th, 2013 Is self…
Is selflessness a necessary illusion? Are we condemned to weigh the costs (whether consciously or not) of the welfare of others against the benefits to ourselves ? We develop a “theory of mind” around age three, concurrently building our capacity to recognize emotions experienced by others. In other words, we begin to develop empathy, the sine qua non of compassion, and hence, of altruism. But if altruism is evolutionarily adaptive, as many believe, can it be unadulterated by self-interest? Or might acts of altruism truly reveal “the better angels of our nature”?
