The Heart of Altruism: Perceptions of a Common Humanity

by Kristen Renwick Monroe

Overview

Is all human behavior based on self-interest? Many social and biological theories would argue so, but such a perspective does not explain the many truly heroic acts committed by people willing to risk their lives to help others. In The Heart of Altruism, Kristen Renwick Monroe boldly lays the groundwork for a social theory receptive to altruism by examining the experiences described by altruists themselves: from Otto, a German businessman who rescued over a hundred Jews in Nazi Germany, to Lucille, a newspaper poetry editor, who, armed with her cane, saved a young girl who was being raped. Monroe's honest and moving interviews with these little-known heroes enable her to explore the causes of altruism and the differences between altruists and other people. By delineating an overarching perspective of humanity shared by altruists, Monroe demonstrates how social theories may begin to account for altruism and debunks the notions of scientific inevitability that stem from an overemphasis on self-interest.


As Monroe has discovered, the financial and religious backgrounds of altruists vary greatly—as do their views on issues such as welfare, civil rights, and morality. Altruists do, however, share a certain way of looking at the world: where the rest of us see a stranger, altruists see a fellow human being. It is this perspective that many social theories overlook. Monroe restores altruism to a general theory of ethical political behavior. She argues that to understand what makes one person act out of concern for others and not the self, we need to ask how that individual's perspective sets the range of options he or she finds available.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691058474
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	07/21/1998
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kristen Renwick Monroe is Professor of Politics and Associate Director of the Program in Political Psychology at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Presidential Popularity and the Economy and editor of The Economic Approach to Politics: A Critical Reassessment of the Theory of Rational Action and The Political Process and Economic Change.

Table of Contents

The Human Face of Altruism
Acknowledgments
Introduction	3
Ch. 1	The Puzzle of Altruism	6
Ch. 2	The Entrepreneur	27
Ch. 3	The Philanthropist	41
Ch. 4	The Heroine	63
Ch. 5	Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe	91
Ch. 6	Sociocultural Attributes of Altruism	121
Ch. 7	Economic Approaches to Altruism	137
Ch. 8	Explanations from Evolutionary Biology	161
Ch. 9	Psychological Discussions of Altruism	179
Ch. 10	The Altruistic Perspective: Perceptions of a Shared Humanity	197
Ch. 11	Perspective and Ethical Political Acts: Initial Thoughts	217
Conclusion	233
Notes	239
Bibliography	271
Index	285

What People are Saying About This

Hirschman

Analytically brilliant and extremely moving. [Monroe's] case studies are gripping and her demonstration of the actual existence of altruism, in contrast to self-interested behavior. . ., is wholly convincing.
— Albert O. Hirschman, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Michael Collins

In her adventurous new book ... Monroe takes mainstream economics, psychology, and evolutionary biology to task for assuming self-interest is the key to human behavior.... The Heart of Altruism is an important achievement, for it sketches a partial route past the whirlpool of selfishness.
— Michael Collins, "The New Leader"

From the Publisher

"Monroe elegantly shows that altruism is not one simple thing, but many distinct things, and that ... [it] is not adequately captured by models based on rational self-interest."—Martha C. Nussbaum, The New Republic

"In her adventurous new book ... Monroe takes mainstream economics, psychology, and evolutionary biology to task for assuming self-interest is the key to human behavior.... The Heart of Altruism is an important achievement, for it sketches a partial route past the whirlpool of selfishness."—Michael Collins, The New Leader

"Analytically brilliant and extremely moving. [Monroe's] case studies are gripping and her demonstration of the actual existence of altruism, in contrast to self-interested behavior. . ., is wholly convincing."—Albert O. Hirschman, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Nussbaum

Monroe elegantly shows that altruism is not one simple thing, but many distinct things, and that ... [it] is not adequately captured by models based on rational self-interest.
— Martha C. Nussbaum, "The New Republic"

Editorial Reviews

Winner of the 1997 Best Book Award, Political Psychology Section of the American Political Science Association

Winner of the 1997 Best Book Award, American Political Science Association

From the Publisher