Question

what is the greatest danger or weakness of altruism? Its greatest strength? Defend your answer in detail.

Answer 1

First,let's understand the meaning of the word Altruism in the basic sense.

Altruism, in general sense means doing good for others without any concern for yourself or your wants. It is basically a concept similar to charity, but charity might sometimes be done as a fulfillment of some obligation, whereas Altruism is altogether a voluntary concept. It means making life better for another person and fulfilling their needs even if it means that the act may somehow bring harm to you.

In economic terms more or less Altruism means how much you can improve others' lives per dollar, without thinking that it would decrease your income/ saving.

The weaknesses of altruism are:

-- Sometimes you tend to ignore your wants and needs and focus more on how to improve others' lives. This defeats the basic purpose of doing business/ earning income. Because the basic purpose of business is to earn and save for yourself and spend it too for your own needs. This may be considered the greatest weakness of Altruism.

-- Decision making is hampered, since you tend to care more about others, decision making becomes very difficult because you start making them for the good of others rather than yourself.

-- Sometimes it becomes difficult to handle too many things at the same time and you tend to mess up the things you once had a hold on.

The strengths of Altruism are:

-- Mental Peace and satisfaction, by doing some selfless acts, you obviously feel more at peace. You also feel a lot more satisfied when you help others.When you focus more on others, you also forget your own problems for a while, which also means mental peace.

-- If you don't do it very often, you tend to expereince the release of a positive energy from yourself, which is also sometimes referred to as the Helper's High. This can be considered one of the greatest strengths of Altruism.

-- Better physical health, as you are more satisfied with yourself and at peace. You also appreciate what you have more.

Hope it helps!!