ALTRUISM, is a concept in psychology and philosophy developed by the French philosopher Auguste Comte. Using the term egoisme as a model, Comte coined the French word altruisme basing it on autrui (meaning “other person).

利他主义，是由法国哲学家奥古斯特·孔德发展的一种心理学和哲学概念。用利己主义一词为模型，孔德根据autrui（意思是“其他人”）创造了法语单词altruisme（利他主义）。

In psychology, altruism is a theory about human motivation. It holds that some things people do are done for the sake of another person or persons. It opposes the psychological theory of egoism, which hold that “everything I (the ego) do is for my own sake,” that is, for the sake of what will happen to me.

在心理学上，利他主义是一种有关人类动机的理论。它认为，人们所做的一些事情都是为另一个人或一些人的利益。它反对利己主义的心理学理论，利己主义认为“我（自我）所做的一切事情都是为我自己”，换句话说，是为了我可能获得的利益。

Comte acknowledged his indebtedness for the concept of altruism to the British moral philosophers Joseph butler, Francis Hutcheson, and David Hume. They had challenged egoism, which since ancient Greek times had been the dominant theory of human motivation, by arguing that altruistic habits may be formed in personalities that originally were egoistic.

孔德承认，他的利他主义概念要归功于英国的道德哲学家约瑟夫·巴特勒，弗朗西斯·哈奇森和大卫·休谟。 他们对自古希腊时代一直是人类动机主导理论的利已主义提出了质疑，论证说，利他习惯可能在原本是利已的人格中形成。

In philosophy, altruism as an ethical concept appeared as soon as it was granted that it is psychologically possible to acquire habits of altruistic action, with questions arising as to whether and to what extent it is obligatory, altruistic habits. Comte proposed the formation of completely altruistic personalities, each of whom would devote himself to playing his role in society for the good of humanity. John Stuart Mill claimed that a person gets more happiness from a life of altruism—from aiming at the happiness of the greater number—than from an egoistic pattern of life. Nevertheless, like his acquaintance Herbert Spencer, Mill rejected Comte’s proposals, counting instead on the slow development of more and more altruism through the proper education of successive generations.

在哲学中，一旦利他主义被认为在心理上可能获得利他行为的习惯时，它作为一种伦理概念就出现了，随之出现的问题是，它是否以及在多大程度上是强制的，利他的习惯。孔德认为，要形成完全的利他人格，每个人都应该为了人类的利益在社会中发挥自己的作用。约翰·斯图尔特·密尔认为，一个人从利他主义的生活中---从追求多数人的幸福中---而不是从追求利己主义的生活方式中就会获得更多的幸福。然而，像他的熟人赫伯特·斯宾塞一样，密尔也拒绝了孔德的观点，他认为要通过对一代代人的适当教育，慢慢形成越来越多的利他主义。

There still exist articulate defenders of the claim that ethical altruism is bad (the novelist Ay Rand, for example). They assert that altruism tends to develop dependent, unenterprising, and sentimentalistic personalities.

依然有该主张的捍卫者明确表达，伦理利他主义是不道德的（例如，小说家阿伊·兰德）。他们断言，利他主义倾向于发展依赖、保守和伤感主义的人格。

                          WILLIAM H. HAY, University of Wisconsin

                              威廉·H. 海，威斯康星大学

                                 2023年2月26日译

（译者注：该词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第1卷，第639页）