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Is altruism, the state of acting unselfishly on behalf of others, a particularly human trait, or is it a behavior other species practice too? What's more to the point, is it in fact a trait we have at all, or can all our actions be finally attributed to self-interest, however selfless they might at first appear ? For example, if you rush into your neighbour's burning house and save him and his family, this is naturally seen as a good and noble deed, but some would argue that it wasn't a natural human instinct that caused you to put your life at risk , but that your true motive was that you would expect youneighbour to do the same for you under similar circumstances. Other species do co-operate and work together for the mutual benefit of the group, mainly in terms of hunting for food and defence and is for the collective good. But altruism proper suggests that little or no advantage attaches to the altruistic act - you might even lose your life in the process. Cynics will say that at bottom all our actions are selfish in some way or another, while those who take a rosier view believe that altruism, and goodness, are a part of human nature. Aristotle himself was a bit of an optimist in this matter, believing that all people were basically good, but that this quality could only be brought out within society and that, therefore, we are, in the original sense of the word, political animals.
