Why would we evolve to have positive feelings towards people in proportion to their altruism rather than in proportion to their value as allies? If your positive feelings towards someone are supposed to correspond to the fitness benefit you stand to gain by helping them and thus becoming a more likely target for their altruism its surely far better to help Gandhi or Superman.
We probably aren’t even evolved to note how altruistic someone is, only that they are altruistic. If we know that a person is an altruist they are probably a member of our tribe, and so have reason to be altruistic towards us.
Why would we evolve to have positive feelings towards people in proportion to their altruism rather than in proportion to their value as allies? If your positive feelings towards someone are supposed to correspond to the fitness benefit you stand to gain by helping them and thus becoming a more likely target for their altruism its surely far better to help Gandhi or Superman. We probably aren’t even evolved to note how altruistic someone is, only that they are altruistic. If we know that a person is an altruist they are probably a member of our tribe, and so have reason to be altruistic towards us.