Yes, some animals help each other. But is that actually what we call altruism ? Some ants bodyguard other, smaller insects because those produce flavorous food which ant literally milk from them. That and even in cases of truly selfless altruism, there is still a difference between acting altruistic and understanding the concept of altruism and applying it because it is intellectually pleasing.
Wikipedia - and with that, all the sources cited as well as many others - certainly seems to think so. I'd say it depends on the animal: I wouldn't directly compare the "altruism" of ants to the altruism of humans, if the former even deserves the term. Insects are a long way from humans, though, so it's more useful to look at closer relatives, such as apes, where the whole affair is more tortuous than is the case with ants (and other insects, for that matter).
What
is the difference between acting altruistic and understanding the concept of altruism and applying it because it is intellectually pleasing? You will encounter a strange loop sooner or later with the latter and in the end it all boils down to the former.
Yes, but my point was that those core values can be "easily" tricked into doing something a majority of humans from a neutral perspective would call evil.
We are not in disagreement here. Certainly, it can be enough to simply convince someone that another person is an Enemy to get their empathy to switch off.
My points is merely that it is not quite this simple:
Most people try to be good within their own value system. This value system relies on what they know, and have been teached.
Rather, what they know and have been taught is built upon a foundation of core values, or natural inclinations, if you will. Those values can be corrupted and twisted, but that is more unusual than not: in general you will find that humanity as a whole follows a very similar set of "base rules" of morality.
In a sense, culture by its mere existence determines what is good and what is evil because as far as I know, cultures aren't morality-neutral, there's always a part of our core values that are manipulated by culture.
Other things can also trick a human into doing evil things while thinking they are good, like mistakes in reasoning
Morality is not arbitrary. A culture/religion/sect can corrupt an individuals view of "good" and "evil", but it'll only be a corruption. And always, to my knowledge, a hypocritical one, when it happens ("it is Good to do this to others, but Evil when done to me/us"). That shows there is an inherent, underlying understanding of Right and Wrong and the justification is tacked on superficially,
a belief in belief.And yes, yes they can. A mistake in reasoning or, more commonly, religion (though one could argue those are one and the same - it is much more often a question of intellectual honesty than intellectual capacity). But as already established, I don't disagree with you about that.
