Altruism and Family Tradition

Altruistic Behavior vs. Christmas at Home As a human being, there are several ways to interpret the act of altruism. The lineal denotation of altruism means the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others. However, everyone has different point of view as they faced altruism and they tempted to call themselves as true of altruism without knowing the true standard. This idea is especially apparent when looking between the two nonfiction articles in Altruistic Behavior by Desmond Morris and Christmas at home by P.W. Alexander. Both pieces are base off the idea of altruism and how it can be presented differently in one’s life. Desmond Morris, a honored anthropologist his work most well known to the general public by his remarkable product The Naked Ape, which is a book about the metaphoric thinking between apes and humans. He uses his own anthropological point of view and terminology to represent his knowledge of true altruism, and he also grotesquely indicate human’s selfishness through a mankind behavior. In the other hand, P.W. Alexander, a writer and a teacher who oftentimes dedicated to community services, her article Christmas at Home, she talks about her own personal heartwarming life story and how her family tradition on holidays of acts of altruism have impacted her life and career. Each piece was based off of act of altruism but the intense logics between the two authors are slightly different than one another. By logic, Altruism Behavior written by Desmond Morris, a scholar of anthropology held a more accountable and reliable foundation and analysis. This piece written by Morris is extremely credible and acceptable. He confidently affirms altruism is being self-sacrifice: his piece employs analogy with human being instinct of choosing an individual to save out of the fire; he displays “evolution theory that all animals must be entirely selfish in their actions even if they appear to be their most self-sacrificing and philanthropic.”(Morris