{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.altruism","code":"thing-q167323","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q167323/","name":"altruism","alternateNames":["self-sacrifice","biocentric altruism","ministration","Altruism in Islam"],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.1.0-research.1","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Activities and processes","entryKind":"thing","plane":"ACT","domain":["ACT.ACT"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"Altruism is the principle or practice of concern for the welfare of others, expressed through behaviour or motivation that treats another's welfare as an end rather than solely as a means to personal gain, without requiring a net cost to the actor.","purpose":"Enable an AI agent to recognise and assess candidate instances of altruism and identify supportable actions without treating helpful outcomes as proof of selfless motivation.","scope":{"in":["Actions, decisions and sustained practices proposed as instances of altruism","Evidence that another's welfare is an end rather than solely a means to personal gain","Intended beneficiaries, their expressed needs and their actual experience","Costs, risks, rewards and alternatives facing the acting party","Voluntariness, obligations, reciprocity and conflicting motives","Differences between intended benefit, observed benefit and unintended harm"],"out":["General moral evaluation of people or their character","Administration of donations, grants and charitable organisations","Clinical explanations of empathy or personality","Biological altruism defined through reproductive fitness effects","General theories of justice and allocation of public resources","Contractual exchange and legal duties except where they affect an altruism assessment"],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["Identify whose welfare the actor sought to improve and what supports treating that welfare as an end; a helpful outcome alone establishes neither intent nor altruism.","Distinguish expected repayment or strategic advantage from incidental personal satisfaction; record mixed motives instead of assuming either eliminates concern for others.","Establish what discretion the actor had: fulfilling a duty or following an order requires separate assessment of the actor's welfare-directed reasons.","Separate the cost borne by the actor from the benefit sought for others; sacrifice alone does not establish altruism.","Check intended benefit against beneficiary preferences and observed effects; benevolent intent can coexist with unwanted or harmful intervention."],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"act-and-beneficiary","name":"Act and beneficiary","description":"Identifies the conduct being assessed and the welfare it is meant to serve.","layers":[{"id":"assessment-boundary","name":"Assessment boundary","description":"Separates the candidate action or practice from judgments about the actor as a whole.","findings":[{"id":"bounded-candidate","name":"Bounded candidate","description":"Record the conduct, actor, occasion and assessment unit without presuming that it qualifies as altruism.","questions":[{"text":"Which action, decision or sustained practice is being assessed?","id":"bounded-candidate-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"What would be an unjustified extension of this assessment to the actor's other conduct or character?","id":"bounded-candidate-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"intended-welfare","name":"Intended welfare","description":"Locates the proposed benefit in the circumstances of its intended recipients.","findings":[{"id":"recipient-and-benefit","name":"Recipient and benefit","description":"Record who is meant to benefit, what improvement is sought and whose account establishes that need.","questions":[{"text":"Whose welfare is the actor trying to improve, and in what specific respect?","id":"recipient-and-benefit-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Does the account of the need come from recipients, the actor or another source?","id":"recipient-and-benefit-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"motives-and-personal-returns","name":"Motives and personal returns","description":"Examines concern for others alongside rewards, expectations and competing purposes.","layers":[{"id":"concern-for-others","name":"Concern for others","description":"Assesses evidence that recipient welfare matters to the actor in its own right.","findings":[{"id":"welfare-as-an-end","name":"Welfare as an end","description":"Record evidence supporting or challenging the interpretation that helping others is a purpose rather than only an instrument.","questions":[{"text":"What statements or choices support the interpretation that the beneficiary's welfare matters independently of the actor's gain?","id":"welfare-as-an-end-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Which alternative explanations remain consistent with the observed conduct?","id":"welfare-as-an-end-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"reward-dependence","name":"Reward dependence","description":"Distinguishes accompanying rewards from returns that appear necessary to the actor's choice.","findings":[{"id":"mixed-motives-and-reciprocity","name":"Mixed motives and reciprocity","description":"Record anticipated repayment, recognition, satisfaction and advantage without treating their presence as a conclusive classification.","questions":[{"text":"What personal returns did the actor anticipate, and was any repayment explicitly or implicitly expected?","id":"mixed-motives-and-reciprocity-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"What evidence, if any, indicates whether the actor would still help without recognition or repayment?","id":"mixed-motives-and-reciprocity-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]}]},{"id":"burden-and-freedom","name":"Burden and freedom","description":"Examines what the actor gives up and how freely the contribution is chosen.","layers":[{"id":"personal-stakes","name":"Personal stakes","description":"Places the contribution in the actor's actual resources and alternatives.","findings":[{"id":"cost-risk-and-opportunity","name":"Cost, risk and opportunity","description":"Record expected and actual burdens separately, including opportunities forgone and burdens transferred to others.","questions":[{"text":"What time, resources, opportunities or safety did the actor expect to give up, and what did the act actually cost?","id":"cost-risk-and-opportunity-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"Which burdens fall on dependants or other parties rather than on the actor?","id":"cost-risk-and-opportunity-q02","kind":"boundary"}]}]},{"id":"choice-and-obligation","name":"Choice and obligation","description":"Examines the available freedom to help, refuse or choose a different form of assistance.","findings":[{"id":"discretion-under-pressure","name":"Discretion under pressure","description":"Record duties, sanctions, social expectations and meaningful alternatives relevant to the act.","questions":[{"text":"What obligations or pressures applied, and what choices remained available to the actor?","id":"discretion-under-pressure-q01","kind":"boundary"},{"text":"What changes would preserve useful help while allowing the actor a meaningful choice to reduce or stop the contribution?","id":"discretion-under-pressure-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"recipient-agency-and-effects","name":"Recipient agency and effects","description":"Examines whether help is wanted and whether it improves welfare in practice.","layers":[{"id":"recipient-voice","name":"Recipient voice","description":"Records recipient preferences and the authority to act when direct consultation is unavailable.","findings":[{"id":"wanted-and-authorised-help","name":"Wanted and authorised help","description":"Record requests, acceptance, refusal and uncertainty about representing recipient interests.","questions":[{"text":"Have recipients requested, accepted or refused this help, and how was that established?","id":"wanted-and-authorised-help-q01","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"If recipients cannot express a preference, what grounds support acting on their behalf?","id":"wanted-and-authorised-help-q02","kind":"action"}]}]},{"id":"benefit-and-harm","name":"Benefit and harm","description":"Compares intended improvement with observed effects and plausible alternatives.","findings":[{"id":"welfare-consequences","name":"Welfare consequences","description":"Record benefit, harm, distribution and uncertainty without inferring motive from success or failure.","questions":[{"text":"Compared with what likely would have happened otherwise, what benefits or harms are supported by evidence?","id":"welfare-consequences-q01","kind":"measurement"},{"text":"What recipient feedback or harmful effects would justify adapting or stopping the help?","id":"welfare-consequences-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"judgment-and-responsible-support","name":"Judgment and responsible support","description":"Turns incomplete evidence into a qualified assessment and bounded recommendations.","layers":[{"id":"qualified-classification","name":"Qualified classification","description":"Makes the interpretation of altruism and the limits of the resulting judgment explicit.","findings":[{"id":"criteria-and-confidence","name":"Criteria and confidence","description":"Record the operative criteria, evidence gaps and disagreements underlying a provisional classification.","questions":[{"text":"Under the interpretation being used, what evidence supports or fails to support calling this act altruistic?","id":"criteria-and-confidence-q01","kind":"definition"},{"text":"Which missing or conflicting evidence could materially change that assessment?","id":"criteria-and-confidence-q02","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"support-and-reassessment","name":"Support and reassessment","description":"Identifies feasible next actions and conditions for revisiting them.","findings":[{"id":"sustainable-welfare-directed-action","name":"Sustainable welfare-directed action","description":"Record ways to pursue recipient welfare within the actor's resources, consent and responsibilities.","questions":[{"text":"What feasible alternative could preserve or improve the intended benefit with less harm or avoidable burden?","id":"sustainable-welfare-directed-action-q01","kind":"action"},{"text":"What changes in recipient wishes, actor capacity or expected benefit should trigger reassessment?","id":"sustainable-welfare-directed-action-q02","kind":"action"}]}]}]},{"id":"evidence-and-external-alignment","name":"Evidence and external alignment","description":"What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.","layers":[{"id":"reported-evidence","name":"Reported evidence","description":"Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.","findings":[{"id":"evidence-kinds","name":"Kinds and varieties","description":"Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of altruism this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-kinds-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-identifiers","name":"Identifiers and schemes","description":"Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of altruism this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-identifiers-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-standards-and-regulation","name":"Standards and regulation","description":"Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of altruism this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-real-world-use","name":"Real-world use","description":"Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of altruism this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-real-world-use-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-measurements","name":"Typical measurements","description":"Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of altruism this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-measurements-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards","name":"Failure modes and hazards","description":"Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of altruism this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-regional-variation","name":"Regional variation","description":"Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of altruism this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-regional-variation-q01","kind":"provenance"}]},{"id":"evidence-neighbours","name":"Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart","description":"Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.","questions":[{"text":"Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of altruism this model covers, and on what evidence?","id":"evidence-neighbours-q01","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["Explain altruism in biology and psychology, stating which definition is used.","Describe research findings with their sources and limits."],"mustNot":["Judge a person's motives as selfish or altruistic without evidence.","Exploit people's generosity with manipulative appeals.","Present evolutionary models of altruism as moral rules for people."],"requiresHuman":["Using inferred motives in decisions about a person."]},"ethics":{"considerations":["Claims about human nature shape how societies treat the needy.","Generous people are targets of fraud."],"affectedParties":["Donors and helpers","People in need"]},"owners":{"steward":"Nobody owns the concept; it belongs to shared science and ethics.","roles":[],"masterSystems":[]},"relations":[{"target":"Q2515874","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.altruism","Wikidata: Q167323 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q167323)"]},"properties":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":["Assessment target: single action | decision | sustained practice","Intended beneficiary: Identified person, group, nonhuman recipient or future population, with relationship to actor","Welfare-directed motivation: unassessed | supported | contested | insufficient evidence","Expected personal return: Repayment, reputation, affiliation, emotional satisfaction, strategic advantage, none identified or unknown; multiple values allowed","Actor burden: Time, money, foregone opportunities and risk estimates, recorded separately with context and uncertainty","Discretion and pressure: freely chosen | duty-bound with discretion | pressured | compelled | unclear","Beneficiary endorsement: requested | accepted | declined | disputed | not sought | unavailable","Welfare effect: Beneficiary-relevant indicators with baseline, time horizon, comparison and uncertainty; no mandatory aggregate score","Assessment conclusion: unassessed | provisionally supported | contested | unsupported under stated interpretation"]},"recognition":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["Assess a candidate act against an explicitly stated interpretation of altruism.","Request missing evidence about intended benefit, competing motives and beneficiary preferences.","Compare ways to pursue the intended benefit while reducing harm and avoidable personal burden.","Propose continuation, adaptation or withdrawal of help in light of recipient wishes and observed effects.","Revise an assessment when evidence changes without converting it into a global character judgment."]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Unbounded self-sacrifice can undermine the helper's health, resources or existing responsibilities.","Others may exploit altruistic commitments to obtain labour, money or compliance.","Assistance based on assumed needs can undermine recipients' autonomy or cause unintended harm.","Treating helpful outcomes as proof of selfless motivation can distort assessments of people or agents."]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"not-applicable","items":[]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Altruism is discussed in ethics and psychology when evaluating concern for other people's welfare and the motivations behind helping.","In evolutionary biology, it describes behaviour that benefits a recipient's fitness while reducing the actor's direct fitness.","The concept is used to examine cooperation, caregiving, charitable activity and other forms of assistance."]}},"sources":[{"title":"The genetical evolution of social behaviour. I","url":"","note":"Biological definition via fitness costs and benefits; kin altruism and Hamilton's rule (rB > C)."},{"title":"The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism","url":"","note":"Reciprocal altruism as a distinct evolutionary kind, and the conditions under which delayed return can sustain costly help."},{"title":"The Altruism Question: Toward a Social-Psychological Answer","url":"","note":"Psychological definition by ultimate goal; empathy-altruism versus egoistic alternatives (aversive-arousal reduction, reward, punishment)."},{"title":"Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving","url":"","note":"Pure versus impure (warm-glow) altruism in charitable giving and public-goods provision."},{"title":"The nature of human altruism","url":"https://www.nature.com/articles/nature02043","note":"Strong reciprocity, experimental measures (dictator, public-goods, third-party punishment), and the gap between fitness-based and motive-based senses."},{"title":"Altruism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)","url":"https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/altruism/","note":"Philosophical neighbours (psychological egoism, ethics of self-sacrifice) and the need to keep biological and psychological senses apart."},{"title":"Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior","url":"","note":"The evolutionary versus psychological distinction and multilevel-selection arguments about when altruism can spread."},{"title":"WHO Guiding Principles on Human Cell, Tissue and Organ Transplantation (WHA63.22)","url":"","note":"Altruistic unpaid donation as a governing principle for organs, cells and tissues in real-world regulation."},{"title":"Wikidata item Q167323: altruism","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q167323","note":"identity and sense of the item"},{"title":"Wikipedia: Altruism","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism","note":"general description of the item"}],"openQuestions":["Should this registry entry require a motivational interpretation of altruism, or also support behavioural interpretations that do not claim to establish motives?","Is personal cost necessary for classification, and how should low-cost helping or mutually beneficial conduct be treated?","What evidentiary standard can support judgments about mixed motives without presenting self-reports or behavioural counterfactuals as decisive?","How should duty, family attachment, group loyalty and expected reciprocity affect classification across different social contexts?","Does this entry extend to organisational or AI actors, and what evidence could support attributing welfare-directed motivation to them?"],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q167323/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q167323/spec.json"],"providers":["Codex","Grok"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-09-07T11:32:10Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"not-applicable","interaction.recognition":"not-applicable","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"not-applicable","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-07T12:16:29+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 4 live sources; review by codex: pass","interaction.properties":"Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.","interaction.interfaces":"No generally applicable technical standard or official classification governs altruism as a principle or motivation.","interaction.recognition":"Altruistic motivation and fitness consequences cannot be established from visual appearance alone."},"score":1.0}}