Most everyone (except psychopaths) feels bad about suffering, and tells their friends the same, but they don’t do much about it unless its close to their personal experience.
I’m not sure how much truth there is in this generalisation. Countless environmental activists, conservationists and humanitarian workers across the globe willingly give their time and energy to causes that have little or nothing to do with satisfying their own local needs or wants. Whilst they may not be in the majority, there are nevertheless a significant minority. I doubt many of them would be happy to be told they are only ‘signalling altruism’ to appear better in the eyes of their peers.
On the other hand, I suppose you could argue the case that such people have X-altruistic personalities and that perhaps that isn’t a desirable quality in terms of creating a hypothetical perfect society.
I’m not sure how much truth there is in this generalisation. Countless environmental activists, conservationists and humanitarian workers across the globe willingly give their time and energy to causes that have little or nothing to do with satisfying their own local needs or wants. Whilst they may not be in the majority, there are nevertheless a significant minority. I doubt many of them would be happy to be told they are only ‘signalling altruism’ to appear better in the eyes of their peers.
On the other hand, I suppose you could argue the case that such people have X-altruistic personalities and that perhaps that isn’t a desirable quality in terms of creating a hypothetical perfect society.