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Altruism vs Morality - What's the difference?

altruism | morality |

As nouns the difference between altruism and morality

is that altruism is regard for others, both natural and moral without regard for oneself; devotion to the interests of others; brotherly kindness; selflessness; contrasted with egoism or selfishness while morality is recognition of the distinction between good and evil or between right and wrong; respect for and obedience to the rules of right conduct; the mental disposition or characteristic of behaving in a manner intended to produce morally good results.

altruism

Noun

(en noun)
  • Regard for others, both natural and moral without regard for oneself; devotion to the interests of others; brotherly kindness; selflessness; contrasted with egoism or selfishness .
  • *, chapter=16
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The preposterous altruism too!
  • * 1995 , George E. Vaillant, The Wisdom of the Ego , page 68,
  • Altruism' allows doing for others as one would be done by. Unlike reaction formation, which also gives to the object what the self desires, '''altruism''' leaves the self at least partly gratified. Unlike reaction formation, '''altruism''' tempers asceticism with pleasure. Unlike passive aggression and martyrdom, '''altruism''' allows the object to feel blessed and not afflicted. ' Altruism attracts people to the user; martyrdom repels them even as it holds them close in chains.
  • (biology, sociobiology) Action or behaviour that benefits another or others at some cost to the performer.
  • * 2013 December 24, Laura Spinney, Goodwill hunting: Random ants of kindness'', ''(New Scientist) ,
  • Altruism' is a behaviour of an individual that benefits another at its own expense.Being nice to relatives is not pure ' altruism because they share your genes so, by helping them, you promote your own genetic heritage.

    Synonyms

    * (regard for others) philanthropy * (action benefiting others at cost to oneself) philanthropy

    Antonyms

    * (regard for others) egoism, misanthropy (hatred of human race), selfishness

    See also

    * agape (spiritual love for others) * bell the cat * brotherly love * misandry (hatred of males) * misogyny (hatred of females) * selflessness

    References

    morality

    English

    Noun

  • (uncountable) Recognition]] of the distinction between good and evil or between right and wrong; respect for and obedience to the rules of right conduct; the mental disposition or characteristic of [[behave, behaving in a manner intended to produce morally good results.
  • * 1841 , , Heroes and Hero Worship , ch. 3:
  • Without morality , intellect were impossible for him; a thoroughly immoral man'' could not know anything at all! To know a thing, what we can call knowing, a man must first ''love'' the thing, sympathize with it: that is, be ''virtuously related to it.
  • * 1910 , , Theft: A Play In Four Acts , "Characters":
  • Ellery Jackson Hubbard. . . . A man radiating prosperity, optimism and selfishness. Has no morality whatever. Is a conscious individualist, cold-blooded, pitiless, working only for himself, and believing in nothing but himself.
  • * 1911 , , Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens , ch. 16:
  • Science and art without morality are not dangerous in the sense commonly supposed. They are not dangerous like a fire, but dangerous like a fog.
  • * 1965 , " King Moves North," Time , 30 Apr.:
  • It may be true that you cannot legislate morality , but behavior can be regulated.
  • (countable) A set of social rules, customs, traditions, beliefs, or practices which specify proper, acceptable forms of conduct.
  • * 1912 , , Pygmalion , act 5:
  • I have to live for others and not for myself: that's middle class morality .
  • * 1917 , . The Yukon Trail , ch. 14:
  • He smiled a little. "Morality is the average conduct of the average man at a given time and place. It is based on custom and expediency."
  • (countable) A set of personal guiding principles for conduct or a general notion of how to behave, whether respectable or not.
  • * 1781 , , "Sheffield" in Lives of the Poets :
  • His morality was such as naturally proceeds from loose opinions.
  • * 1994 , "Man Convicted of Murder in '92 Bludgeoning," San Jose Mercury News , 4 Nov., p. 2B:
  • Deputy District Attorney Bill Tingle called Jones "the devil's right-hand man" and said he should be punished for his "atrocious morality ."
  • (countable, archaic) A lesson or pronouncement which contains advice about proper behavior.
  • * 1824 , , St. Ronan's Well , ch. 16:
  • "She had done her duty"—"she left the matter to them that had a charge anent such things"—and "Providence would bring the mystery to light in his own fitting time"—such were the moralities with which the good dame consoled herself.
  • * 1882 , , "Vanitas Vanitatum" in Ballads , p. 195:
  • What mean these stale moralities ,
    Sir Preacher, from your desk you mumble?
  • (uncountable, rare) Moral philosophy, the branch of philosophy which studies the grounds and nature of rightness, wrongness, good, and evil.
  • * 1953 , J. Kemp, "Review of The Claim of Morality'' by N.H.G. Robinson," ''The Philosophical Quarterly , vol. 3, no. 12, p. 278:
  • Robinson sums up the conclusion of the first part of his book as being "that the task of the moralist is to set in their proper relation to one another the three different types of moral judgment . . . and so reveal the field of morality as a single self-coherent system".
  • (countable, rare) A particular theory concerning the grounds and nature of rightness, wrongness, good, and evil.
  • * 1954 , , "Ethics and Moral Controversy," The Philosophical Quarterly , vol. 4, no. 14, p. 11:
  • Hume's morality' which ‘implies some sentiment common to all mankind’; Kant's '''morality''' for all rational beings; Butler's ' morality with its presupposition of ‘uniformity of conscience’.

    Usage notes

    * Although the terms morality'' and ''ethics'' may sometimes be used interchangeably, philosophical ethicists often distinguish them, using ''morality'' and its related terms to refer to actual, real-world beliefs and practices concerning proper conduct, and using ''ethics'' to refer to theories and conceptual studies relating to good and evil and right and wrong. In this vein, the American philosopher , ed., ''The Philosophy of Brand Blanshard , Library of Living Philosophers, ISBN 0875483496, "Autobiography", p. 85.

    Synonyms

    * decency, rectitude, righteousness, uprightness, virtuousness * (personal guiding principles) morals * conventions, morals, mores * (lesson or pronouncement which contains advice) homily * (branch of philosophy) ethics, moral philosophy * ethics, moral philosophy

    Antonyms

    * amorality, immorality

    Derived terms

    * antimorality * morality play * morality tale

    References

    Anagrams

    *