Altruism of Experience.

Not necessarily altruistic, but giving or thoughtful, yes. You bring up a good point that it is very possible that helping someone to experience something you found great, may be a mediocre or worse experience for another. And where's the value in that?

Quoting TiredThinker

Is it altruistic to want to give other people life experiences that we have had, and in what way is the altruism affected by the knowledge that no matter what we do all experiences may ultimately be unique?

Perhaps so, but not nearly as altruistic is wanting to give other people life experiences that one has never had. Provided they're positive, of course.

Quoting LuckyR

Not necessarily altruistic, but giving or thoughtful, yes. You bring up a good point that it is very possible that helping someone to experience something you found great, may be a mediocre or worse experience for another. And where's the value in that?

The value is not in the actuality of the experience, but in its qualitative potential.

Reply to Possibility While true, that is also true of almost every experience.

Quoting TiredThinker

Is it altruistic to want to give other people life experiences that we have had, and in what way is the altruism affected by the knowledge that no matter what we do all experiences may ultimately be unique?

I wouldn't confuse generosity with altruism. Altruism is much more than generosity -- one is giving up something that truly sets him back: giving up a life, a decade or two of life, taking risk that has a great chance of causing his own life.

Sharing one's experience is generosity -- you want to impart knowledge by freely providing it to another who could benefit from it.

At the heart of altruism lies the desire to spread joy and in that finding one's own joy. Sharing that experience is a win-win situation as far as I'm concerned. Not only are you an altruist but enable others to themselves become altruists. Happiness will spread like measles and, finally, as Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) says in Starwars episode III, "once more [s]the Sith will rule the galaxy and[/s] we shall have...peace" :grin:

Reply to TiredThinker
By giving, one plays a role and by receiving, one plays a role and when it comes to experience, knowledge, wisdom, the roles are deeper than the simplicity that I think is required when it comes to clear cut altruism. Consider, for example, if you feigned interest in someone else's taste in music, depending on the person, they might be quite delighted to see that you've taken this interest. Some people, love to share and love to be validated by others, they might just enjoy the attention. If you set up a business as a tour guide because you have a passion for your local landscapes, that's fine but it's not altruistic, you are running a business and trying to make a living. Or as a karate instructor, you are helping others to receive the benefits and experience of karate but you are called "master", you are being paid, there are many benefits for you, you are not just giving selflessly, we can't call that altruism.

I think you would need to find an example which you felt could be described as "selfless giving" before you could call it altruism.

I am assuming money isn't changing hands, and ego isn't being rubbed.

Reply to TiredThinker
Yet the list of potential ulterior motives is much longer than that. You asked "is it altruistic" and the answer is at a minimum "not necessarily". From there, it is a matter of "contentiousness", both the claim that one is being altruistic and the claim that they're not being altruistic can be reasonably believed and reasonably doubted.

Quoting Possibility

The value is not in the actuality of the experience, but in its qualitative potential.

Quoting LuckyR

?Possibility While true, that is also true of almost every experience.

Agreed. The value of altruism is NOT in how much we give or how much we do, but in how much anything we give or do increases the perceived potential of others. When we, as observers, refer to an act or person as ‘altruistic’, though, we attribute that perceived value/potential back to the giver/doer, or to the gift/act itself. So ‘true’ altruism goes unrecognised.