News Archive

NOTES FROM THE LAST SEMINAR: HUMAN ALTRUISM, LOCAL AND GLOBAL, IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

Our recent seminar on altruism was well attended despite the rainy weather. Emeritus Professor David Allbrook opened his talk with a recommendation that we read a book “The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness” (Lee Alan Dugatkin, Princeton University Press, 2006), which attempts to answer the question of how altruism can be explained in light of the evolutionary principle that we are in competition by examining the lives and theories of seven seminal intellectuals. David himself leans towards the belief of Kropotkin that altruism is widespread and unrelated to kinship; he further proposed that altruism is mandatory in the 21st century; and that networks exist that facilitate altruistic action. Another book, “Agape Love” by Sir John Templeton, a well known philanthropist, (Templeton Foundation Press, 1999) juxtaposes writings from eight major religions to illustrate the values of compassion
and unconditional love for other human beings that they share.

David spoke of his time at Makerere University in Uganda where he was involved in a number of groups that delivered aid of various kinds to people living with HIV, and mentioned an umbrella organisation, Initiatives of Change, that facilitates altruistic action worldwide.

Professor Mike Anderson said that biologically altruism is compatible with Darwinian and post-Darwinian evolutionary theory, but that psychologically it was still not necessarily fully understood. Personally he confessed to a “sneaking” interest in morality and goodness, and particularly in the question of whether intelligent people are more likely to be “good”. (There’s no apparent correlation.) Possible reasons for altruism are that it brings pleasure, and that it is “the right thing to do”. What makes us moral could be rationality, emotion or empathy, or – a radical hypothesis – neither! Mike used a Startrek example to illustrate that rational thought does not necessarily lead to right behaviour (you had to be there!). Francis Hutcheson, a philosopher of
the Scottish enlightenment, said that affection and emotion had to be taken into account, and according to Damasio, decision making is not solely the province of “cold reason”. Mike also mentioned theories of abnormal psychology to distinguish between psychopaths and people who would not contemplate morally abhorrent courses of action. He described an experiment (the ostracism task) that gives children a choice to be kind to another child, and observed that children who had seen kind behaviour modelled were more likely to demonstrate it themselves.

Mike referred to Hauser’s (Moral Minds, 2006) characterisation of the three different views of what drives moral decision making: the Kantian (moral judgements are based on reasoning), the Humean (based on emotion), and the Rawlsian (there is a specialised device, beyond conscious reasoning that tells us what is good – good feeling follow good decisions not the other way round, as proposed by the Humean). He finally proposed a continuum between biological altruism and psychological altruism, with different kinds of altruistic actions located at different points, but with the hallmark of psychological altruism being in the small everyday considerations given to others.

Dr Gary Ward claimed that he did not necessarily believe he was altruistic, and in fact
wondered whether the motivation for his involvement with The Hunger Project was
compensation for his “dark side”. He described his experience in Africa visiting Hunger Project initiatives, and stressed that The Hunger Project is not a charity as it does not simply distribute food or aid, but works with communities, empowering them to take control to improve their own situation. Donations are called investments, with the aim of creating a world free from hunger.

Gary told us that famine accounts for 8% of hunger-related deaths, while chronic persistent hunger accounts for the other 92%, a situation he finds intolerable. People at risk look normal – they are not the stick-thin, bloated-bellied victims of acute famine – but they still need assistance, although not as passive beneficiaries. The Hunger Project works with people to create a vision and find leaders to deal with the issues themselves. They use strategies of providing microcredit, food banks, medical clinics, and education. Empowerment of women is key as women are responsible for 80% of food production, and are responsible for children’s health. Gary felt that hunger issues had been resolved in places he visited because of the efforts of The Hunger Project and he felt privileged to be able to contribute as a partner. It gave meaning to his working hard and earning well, and gave him an enormous amount of pleasure.
He finished by quoting from The Hunger Project principle of Interconnectedness: “At a
superficial level of our personal identities, we can readily see that our lives are interdependent: our personal well-being depends on the actions of all other people and our natural environment. At a deeper level, however, we are each other. When selfhood is denied to millions of people, our selfhood is diminished. And when millions of our sisters and brothers regain their dignity, the essence of our humanity is restored.”

Questions from the audience included the issue of guilt as a motivator of altruism; the role of social modelling and religious indoctrination; the possibility that the current environmental and climate crisis is a reminder that we are part of an organic whole (Gaia); and distinguishing between altruism and do-goodism.

NEXT SEMINAR

Our next seminar in the “Seeking wisdom” series will be held at 5.30 pm in the same place, Seminar room 1.81 in the School of Anatomy and Human Biology at the University of Western Australia (two buildings south of Shenton House on the Matilda Bay side of the campus). Centre director Neville Bruce will deliver his ever-evolving brief overview of Integrated Human Studies, and Professor Dennis Haskell will chair the presentations and discussion.

Seminar 5, 11 June 08 : From information to wisdom
Where is the life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
T S Eliot, Chorus I from 'The Rock'

Is it coincidence that the further we move into the information age, the closer our civilisation seems to come to breakdown? The world is awash with data. But one binary bit is no different to any other. Raw data are meaningless and useless until we classify them, put them in context, interpret them, and understand their meaning and significance. At this point, information becomes knowledge. But the true value of knowledge only emerges when we use it to help us make wise decisions. What we need most today is not more information, nor even more knowledge, but the wisdom to use well the information and knowledge we have.

Malcolm Hollick, the author of “The Science of Oneness” (O-books, 2006), will briefly explore the nature of information, knowledge and wisdom, before suggesting some criteria by which we can test the reliability of knowledge and the wisdom of any idea or proposed course of action.
Veronica Brady will revisit her topic from the first seminar, “what is wisdom”.

There is no charge to attend, and refreshments are provided.

THE LAST SEMINAR IN OUR “SEEKING WISDOM” SERIES

(Find more details at www.ihs.uwa.edu.au . )

June 25 : Greening Australia: why, when and how
“CROSSING THE BORDER” – AUSTRALIAN AND INTERNATIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY INITIATIVES
Increasingly in Australia and around the world the value of an interdisciplinary approach is being recognised as not only helpful but essential for gaining useful and applicable knowledge. The Weekend Australian’s Recycling Special Report carried an article about interdisciplinary projects in Queensland, ACT and New South Wales. “’In the past, universities have been about people learning a lot about a specific field from others who already have experience in that field,” [said] Professor Peter Grace, director of the Institute for Sustainable Resources at the Queensland University of Technology. ‘That can easily result in academic silos, with ever higher boundaries between disciplines. That model is simply not appropriate for tackling environmental problems.’” (The Weekend Australian, May 31 – June 1 2008.) And a new academic program at
Binghamton University in New York was described in the following article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/science/27angi.html?_r=2&pagewanted=al...
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These universities and research institutes join a growing number worldwide that are responding to the urgent need to equip people with understandings and skills that will enable them to address the complex problems facing human beings in the 21st century.
Our own Centre for Integrated Human Studies here at UWA plans to have undergraduate units available before 2010.

ABOUT THE CENTRE FOR INTEGRATED HUMAN STUDIES
You can find out more about the Centre and about IHS at our web site
If you are interested in enrolling in postgraduate courses in IHS, please contact the Director, A/Prof Neville Bruce on 6488 3292 or email [email protected].

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
Please feel free to give us your comments, thoughts or suggestions for future seminar topics by emailing Karen on [email protected].

Media references

Karen Connolly
Integrated Human Studies
School of Anatomy and Human Biology
The University of Western Australia
35 Stirling Highway Crawley WA 6009
+61 08 6488 3647

email: [email protected]