Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-12-10]: Rats seem to prefer liberating their friends than eat food given to them instead [source: Scientific American]. Altruism is and has always been one of the major problems of the theory of evolution. Biologists claim they have “solved” the problem with experiments like that. They claim that the need to help others of the same species is based on the need to keep your gene pool alive for the generations to come. Well, I am not sure that someone who risks his life for a complete stranger actually thinks that… And on the other hand I am not so sure mice or ants can really be called “altruists” when they help one another… Most of the times we just see what we want to see. The truth is that almost none of us humans is an altruist. And that makes it difficult for us to really understand what happens inside the mind of someone who is.> See tag “Theory of Evolution” for more related articles
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