Altruisms

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A selfless concern for the well-being of others that often drives actions intended to help and uplift those in need
2. A commitment to acting for the benefit of others, often considered a moral obligation that prioritizes communal or societal welfare over personal gain
3. The practice of putting the interests of others first as a guiding principle in ethical behavior and social interactions

Etymology: Auguste Comte, the French philosopher who founded positivism, coined "altruisme" in 1830, building it from "autrui," meaning "of or to others," plus the suffix "-isme." The French word drew on an old legal phrase, "le bien, le droit d'autrui" ("the good, the right of the other"), and Comte's neologism was a deliberate attempt to name a moral principle that had no word of its own. The "autrui" part traces back through Old French to the Latin "alteri," the dative of "alter," meaning "other." That same Latin root gave English the word "alter," so the English word for selflessness and the verb meaning "to change" share an ancestor. The "-ism" ending comes from Greek "-ismos," a suffix for doctrines and practices. English adopted the word in 1853, when George Henry Lewes introduced it in his translation of Comte's "Philosophy of the Sciences." The plural "altruisms" refers to several distinct instances or kinds of this selfless concern for others.

Synonyms: selflessness, benevolence, generosity, kindness, charity

Antonyms: selfishness, egoism, greed, narcissism, egotism