NOTE III 



ON ALTRUISM 



The support of brute-woman by brute-man, which 

 was discussed in Chapters V and VI, seems to con- 

 stitute the first instance of conscious human altruism. 



The love of the mother for her child has frequently 

 been upheld as the original and highest form of 

 altruism in nature. But is it? Altruism has been 

 defined as " devotion to others." Surely the mother 

 is devoted to her child, and the child being another, 

 this is a true form of altruism. But with reference 

 to time, is it the first? Evidently not. For in 

 sexually reproducing creatures before a mother can 

 have a child, the child must have a father. As 

 shown in Chapters V and VI, the human father 

 made efforts to provide for the mother before the 

 child was in existence, and the mother with refer- 

 ence to the father being another ; this constitutes a 

 form of altruism antedating the mother's devotion 

 to her child. 



So far as it is possible to know, this must have 

 been the first form of conscious human altruism. 

 Which of the two is the higher form ? By which 

 criterion can conscious altruism be graded as higher 

 or lower ? Obviously by motive. What is the motive 



J 95 



