I think the answer is clearly no. However, I am guessing some of you think otherwise. You should read the essay "Is Pure Altruism Possible?" by Judith Lichtenberg on "The Stone", which is a New York Times blog. I am sure you read the NYTimes regularly, or the Washington Post (both free online). If you don't, you should. At any rate, "The Stone" regularly features short essays written by actual well known professors of philosophy (like myself, albeit not as well known).
A question about altruism would be a great extra credit question on a quiz. Just sayin'.
Just for your edification, here's what I think. I am of the Kantian/Freudian persuasion (as she charitably puts it). That is, I think, if altruism is understood as action on behalf of others purely for the sake of others and not for self interest, than yes, it is impossible. I reach this conclusion because it seems that people are always motivated by multiple (self-)interests or desires (depending on your Kantian or Freudian persuasion) and those interest or desires are never completely clear to us. Thus, if it is possible that there are other interests or desires motivating us, we cannot be acting purely for sake of others.
I don't think that is a problem. I don't know why people should have to act only for the sake of others in order for their actions to have moral or ethical worth. On the other hand, I am also not concerned that all actions are necessarily egoistic, and this because our own interests are frequently bound up with the interests of others.
Even if all actions were completely egoistic, it seems like frequently there would be actions ethically or morally significant in terms of their consequences. For example, I think that public libraries are a vital social and cultural good and the charity that supports them is ethically laudable. Thus, even if a blue blood donates to this charity wholly because of the cachet it may give him or her in the neighborhood where he or she lives, that still seems to be ethically laudable action, and so because of its consequences (the maintenance of public libraries).
All right, back to grading. See you later today.
