| | Rand defined altruism as living for others and placing others above self.
In so doing, she was being true to intentions of Auguste Comte (1798-1857), who invented the word.
As Robert Malcom noted, it literally means "otherism." According to Comte, the essence of altruisme is Vivre pour autrui (living for others). Comte was a thoroughgoing collectivist who wanted to "repress personality" and submerge individuals within "the Great Being, Humanity." Needless to say, he had no patience with notions of individual rights.
What is now regarded as the mainstream spectrum of meanings for altruism developed within a couple of generations after Comte, as various moral philosophers sought to distance themselves from Comte's views without coming right out and saying that altruism was a bad idea.
In evolutionary psychology, altruism has been trivialized to the point where peaceful cooperation with non-kin, or the mildest forms of aid to people with whom the giver does not share genes, are said to be altruistic. Unfortunately, Herbert Spencer is partly to blame for these practices.
So it isn't just ordinary folks who (often) aren't sure what altruism is about. Academics are all over the map regarding it. The lack of clarity is bad; the sliding around that some do, from innocuous notions of benevolence all the way to "Love thy neighbor--do not love thyself," is much worse.
Robert Campbell
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