Michael J. Rosen wrote:
> There was a long story on a regional NPR affiliate a couple of days ago 
> about the rash of new Positive Psychology courses at US colleges. I 
> confess I went back to the jazz CD I had been listening to because the 
> story was kind of fluffy and unsatisfying.
> 
> Mike


No argument from me:  marketing a concept for widespread consumption has 
its inherent dangers.

Out of curiosity, I just took a look at the Wikipedia entry for 
"altruism", and found all sorts of interesting information and points of 
view - much more than I realized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism

Topics include ethics, philosophy, biology (e.g., slime molds), 
psychology, sociology, religion, ...

Here's a particularly provocative section of the entry:

"Philosophers who support egoism have argued that altruism is demeaning 
to the individual and that no moral obligation to help others actually 
exists. Nietzsche asserts that altruism is predicated on the assumption 
that others are more important than one's self and that such a position 
is degrading and demeaning. He also claims that it was very uncommon for 
people in Europe to consider the sacrifice of one's own interests for 
others as virtuous until after the advent of Christianity. Ayn Rand 
argued that altruism is the willful sacrifice of one's values, and 
represents the reversal of morality because only rationally selfish 
ethics allow one to pursue the values required for human life."



Nice brain food!!

Cheers,

Alison