I am suggesting that the same is true of the urge to kindness - toaltruism, to generosity, to empathy, to pity. In ancestral times, wehad the opportunity to be altruistic only towards close kin andpotential reciprocators. Nowadays that restriction is no longerthere, but the rule of thumb persists. Why would it not? It is just likesexual desire. We can no more help ourselves feeling pity when we seea weeping unfortunate (who is unrelated and unable to reciprocate)than we can help ourselves feeling lust for a member of the oppositesex (who may be infertile or otherwise unable to reproduce). Bothare misfirings, Darwinian mistakes: blessed, precious mistakes.

The God Delusion On page 216 Monday, November 5, 2012 @ 1:54pm