---Wayne VanTassel wrote:
>
> > Actually, there are few good examples of kin altruism and
practically none
> > of reciprocal alturism. Unless you have examples I'm unaware of.
> >
> > (snip again)
>
> Kahane, in his recent book, Contract Ethics: Evolutionary Biology
and the Moral
> Sentiments says:
>
> "While not as widespread in the animal kingdom as kin altruism, it
[reciprocal
> altruism] still is fairly common among higher animals. Examples
range from from
> primates grooming and being groomed to the famous cleaner fish who
obtain food
> by cleaning the gills of larger fish in return for not being eaten.
This sort
> of behavior evolves, roughly speaking, because the genetic benefits
to each
> party could not be obtained as easily, or at all, by engaging in
other sorts of
> activities. In the case of primate grooming, the increase in
benefits is
> obvious, given that the individual primates cannot successfully
groom themselves
> and yet grooming is essential for good health." (12-13)
How do you know this is altruism and just not an example of
"co-operation" resulting from the long run pay off from this
"altruism" exceeding the short run payoff from the act of eating the
cleaner fish? The same type of outcome is illustrated with the
Prisoners Dilemma with repeated rounds of play. That is while the
initial formulation of the problem is adversarial the long run payoffs
larger value relative to the short run payoff overcomes the
adversarial relationship creating the impression of altruism.
Steve
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