Well, we certainly know when we’re being less altruistic, don’t we? By implication, that means there are times we are more altruistic.
If we try to measure it out as an all-or-none item, we will certainly find some self-interest in the best of us, and scraps of altruism in the worst of us. That doesn’t make altruism non-existent. People who make the argument that there is always some self-interest create a false standard, insisting that only pure altruism is any altruism at all.
We are most of us aware that there are motives of self-congratulation, avoidance of shame, and showiness in our good acts. That does not make them entirely base and contemptible, though, does it? We know our limitations. We try to reach higher.
Turn the question on its head. Isn’t there great psychic reward and self-congratulation to be able to tear down the motives of others?
