Is it rational to be altuistic?

Is it rational to be altruistic?

It is first important to define the term altruism. In his article ‘Egoism and Altruism’, B. Williams uses the word morality to also imply altruism and gives us a ‘minimal interpretation’ of it and refers to it as ‘ a general disposition to regard the interests of others’. He also introduces the ‘possibility of limiting one’s own projects’ as a further feature of altruism. What is meant to be rational? Williams defines it from what he calls a Kantian standpoint: the structure of practical reason. Economists hold that all decisions that are made are rational. Blackburn writes about the ‘economic man’ in ‘Looking Out for Yourself’ as a paradigm of self-interested rationality rather than a moral paradigm. Rationality seems to be equated with a form of egoism: a self-centred pursuit to fulfil your own interests. It does seem to be the argument that it is not rational to be altruistic, but just that it is more morally correct for ...