Pathology, Evolution, and Altruism
Adaptations that are favored by natural selection can nevertheless count as pathological when they harm others or even the individual over the long term. This statement holds for altruism, along with other traits. By definition, altruism is vulnerable to exploitation and therefore harmful for the altruist some of the time. In addition, altruism practiced within a group is often directed against other groups. Social environments are pathological when they cause altruistic social strategies to fail in competition with selfish social strategies.
Keywords: altruism, exploitation, group, natural selection, pathological altruism, selfish, social strategy
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