There is a growing tendency these days to corrupt, or, to put it more mildly, change the original meaning of moral concepts. "Altruism" is a case in point. You will see many businesses, corporations, and politicians using the term "altruistic" to denote actions that merely benefit others. For example, if a company donates a portion of the cost of each item it sells to a charity, this is characterized as altruistic behavior. Or, if the company funds playgrounds for children in low-income neighborhoods, they are again hailed for their altruism. Doing something with the intention to benefit others is a necessary condition of altruistic behavior. But it is by no means a sufficient condition. If it were, bribery would be altruism. When I bribe a low-income bureaucrat with the intention of benefiting myself, I might also intend that he or she achieve a better living style by virtue of the bribe I will be paying. But clearly, my behavior is self-serving, not altruistic. In similar fashion, the charitable behavior of corporations is altruism only If it does not incorporate "public relations" related intentions. If they do, they are self-serving behavior, not altruistic. What else is needed? Simply, lack of self-serving or self-interested intentions. Altruism is doing something with the intention to benefit others without regard to what might happen to oneself. The highest form of altruism, which might perhaps deserve the special name of "sacrificial" behavior, is doing something with the intention of benefiting others in full knowledge that there would be a cost to oneself. Buying a hungry child a meal is altruism, giving a hungry child the last dollar bill in your pocket is even a higher form of altruism (notice that neither would be altruism if one's action is. intended as an investment for one's plot in heaven) Descriptive Ethics Prescriptive Ethics Metaethics None of the above