altruism
n.n. the quality of being selfless and caring for others without expecting anything in return. You use this to describe someone who helps others just because it is the right thing to do.
n. the selfless concern for the well-being of others, typically involving a sacrifice of one's own interests. Often used in evolutionary biology to describe behaviors that benefit the group at a personal cost.
True altruism is rare in nature.
The biologist studied altruism in wolves, noting how they often protect the pack's young even if it puts themselves at risk.
Evolutionary theory struggles to explain altruism because natural selection favors traits that increase individual survival and reproductive success, yet many species exhibit behaviors that benefit the collective at a personal expense.
From French altruisme, which was coined in 1830 by Auguste Comte from autrui (“of or to others”) + -isme, from Old French, from Latin alteri, dative of alter (“other”) (whence also English alter). Apparently inspired by the French Latin legal phrase l'autrui, from le bien, le droit d'autrui (“the good, the right of the other”). Introduced into English by George Henry Lewes in 1853, in his translation Comte’s Philosophy of the Sciences, 1, xxi.