“Pure altruism” is one of those concepts that are stretched beyond its domain of applicability. An altruistic person is someone who derives more satisfaction from improving the welfare of others than the society’s average, without expecting an extrinsic reward. There is no more to it than that. By definition, any society will have the whole spectrum of altruism and selfishness. Going any further makes the concept less useful, so don’t do it, invent a different concept for the domain you are interested in.
Note also that it’s very hard to distinguish (especially in others) someone who’s altruistic because they derive satisfaction by improving welfare, or if they want to appear altruistic, so people will treat them as if they want to improve welfare. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter—actions, even with poor motivations, are often the important part of actual welfare improvements.
“Pure altruism” is one of those concepts that are stretched beyond its domain of applicability. An altruistic person is someone who derives more satisfaction from improving the welfare of others than the society’s average, without expecting an extrinsic reward. There is no more to it than that. By definition, any society will have the whole spectrum of altruism and selfishness. Going any further makes the concept less useful, so don’t do it, invent a different concept for the domain you are interested in.
Note also that it’s very hard to distinguish (especially in others) someone who’s altruistic because they derive satisfaction by improving welfare, or if they want to appear altruistic, so people will treat them as if they want to improve welfare. Fortunately, it doesn’t matter—actions, even with poor motivations, are often the important part of actual welfare improvements.