ALTRUISM
Selfless concern for others’ welfare
WATCH
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Won’t You Be My Neighbor? — Morgan Neville, 2018 · Documentary · Fred Rogers as the purest model of radical everyday altruism.
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It’s a Wonderful Life — Frank Capra, 1946 · Film · A man discovers the immeasurable impact of one altruistic life on a community.
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Pay It Forward — Mimi Leder, 2000 · Film · A boy’s idea to change the world through cascading acts of generosity.
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The Pursuit of Happyness — Gabriele Muccino, 2006 · Film · Survival and the altruism that sustains community under extreme hardship.
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Hachi: A Dog’s Tale — Lasse Hallström, 2009 · Film · Devotion and loyalty as the simplest forms of altruism.
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Schindler’s List — Steven Spielberg, 1993 · Film · Altruism at its most costly and most human.
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Samsara — Ron Fricke, 2011 · Documentary · The global human family; altruism as recognition of shared existence.
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Living on One Dollar — Zach Ingrasci et al., 2013 · Documentary · Solidarity and altruism experienced from the inside of extreme poverty.
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Humane — Caitlin Cronenberg, 2024 · Film · What altruism means when resources become scarce; a dark interrogation.
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Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood — Marielle Heller, 2019 · Film · Fred Rogers’s altruism examined through a journalist who resisted it.
LISTEN
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The Good Place — Podcast companion · Philosophy of altruism and ethics made accessible and funny.
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Hidden Brain: Altruism — Shankar Vedantam · The science of why humans help strangers and what limits that impulse.
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Radiolab: Altruism episodes — WNYC · Stories and science at the edge of selflessness.
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Giving What We Can Podcast — Various · Effective altruism and how to maximize the good your resources can do.
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The Moth: Generosity stories — Various · First-person accounts of giving and receiving with emotional honesty.
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On Being: Compassion episodes — Krista Tippett · Deep conversations about love, altruism, and human connection.
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Unlocking Us — Brené Brown · Empathy and generosity as practiced skills rather than innate traits.
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80,000 Hours Podcast — Various · Effective altruism applied to career and life choices.
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Ear Hustle — Earlonne Woods & Nigel Poor · Altruism inside prison; mutual aid among the incarcerated.
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StoryCorps — Various · Every episode is an act of altruism; listening as the deepest form of care.
READ
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The Life You Can Save — Peter Singer · The philosophical case for radical altruism and what it demands.
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Strangers Drowning — Larissa MacFarquhar · Profiles of people who take altruism to its moral extreme.
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The Altruism Question — C. Daniel Batson · The science of whether true altruism exists or is always self-interest.
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Small Acts of Resistance — Steve Crawshaw & John Jackson · How ordinary altruism in the face of oppression changes history.
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Behave — Robert Sapolsky · Biology of human behavior including the neuroscience of cooperation and generosity.
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The War for Kindness — Jamil Zaki · Empathy as a skill that can be built; altruism as practice not personality.
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Give and Take — Adam Grant · Why givers succeed and what altruism looks like in professional life.
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The Giving Tree — Shel Silverstein · The simplest and most debated meditation on altruism ever written.
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A Paradise Built in Hell — Rebecca Solnit · How people respond to disaster with unexpected altruism and community.
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Together — Vivek Murthy · Loneliness and the altruism of connection as a public health issue.
