altruism and evolution

[adamd164]

Kin altruism has been studied in great detail, you shouldn't find it difficult to get information on that. Non-kin altruism may in fact be a genetic misfiring, at least in some cases. Historically, there may have been good evolutionary reasons for altruism (i.e. 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' type systems), and now such an in-built propensity towards selflessness can be channeled through such activities as charity work, etc. This is, of course, an oversimplification, but I'm just attempting to illustrate a theory to you.

[AstusAleator]

Perhaps I should just let this die, but I want to point out that the "evolution" charles is referring to has nothing to do with genes... and therefore nothing to do with what I mean when I talk about things such as kin selection and altruism.