Food Sharing and Altruism: Reconstructing Behavioural Evolution

Abstract

Altruism is one of the most representative forms of human behaviour and has been the focus of many debates and fora, from different disciplines (anthropology, evolutionary biology, psychology, economics, philosophy and others). It can be defined as “conduct that benefits others, even at the expense of self-interest, which is voluntary and whose author does not anticipate external benefits”. The debate on altruism among biologists mainly refers to altruistic activity and evolutionary explanations, while philosophers are more concerned with altruistic thoughts and feelings. Altruistic behaviours have been observed in the animal kingdom especially in primates, but in our species, the observed motivations and behaviours are more complex and heterogeneous than in other primates. Human altruistic actions are linked both to very complex biological and genetic bases, to a particular ‘cooperative psychology’ and positive emotions such as sympathy and empathy, and to a high degree of socialisation. Food sharing in particular, had a great adaptive value in our evolutionary history. This paper deals with altruism from an anthropological perspective; it explores controversial aspects of altruism and discusses food donation as a representative example.