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"Altruism" (by nation)

By razib on August 24, 2006.

Some of you know that I have been in a discussion with Right Reason about the relationship between Christianity and altruism. I will address in full this weekend when I have time many of Steve's arguments. Suffice it to say that I think he places more emphasis on the emergence and crystallization of ideas in texts than I do. But, I noted this this post over at The Inductivist which reports data from the World Values Survey:

Percent saying serving others is very important to them:
Top 10:
Puerto Rico 78.8
Morocco 67.8
Venezuela 67.7
Jordan 67.0
Mexico 63.6
Iran 62.1
Nigeria 62.0
Egypt 61.8
Tanzania 58.6
Philippines 57.5

Bottom 10:
Kyrgyzstan 25.4
Albania 19.9
Bosnia and Herzegovina 17.6
Vietnam 16.2
Singapore 15.9
China 15.6
Macedonia 14.5
Montenegro 13.3
Korea 10.8
Japan 8.6

Be careful at taking survey data at face value of course, but interesting nonetheless. Full list at The Inductivist.

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Word & Deeds... I'd prefer a more objective approach: somehow measuring behavior.

I liked the study where a "lost" person asked for directions.

The problem is that "altruism" is a very ill-defined concept. Does it mean giving a dollar to a street beggar? Helping old ladies cross the street? Giving advice to a person in need? Interventionalist warfare?

Not how "doing good" for others depends on some concept of "The Good." Which depends on some imputation of what other people want, or, "need." And when two people have a different concept of "needs," then altruistic behavior might become coercion.