COLUMN: Philly marathon's show of altruism

From Josh Callahan's, "Under Construction," Fall '99 From Josh Callahan's, "Under Construction," Fall '99In Robert Wright's highly regarded 1994 book, The Moral Animal, the author champions the paradoxical idea of "reciprocal altruism" -- the notion that we help others only because we believe we are helping ourselves in some way at the same time. This past Sunday, I finally found evidence in abundance -- people helping complete strangers in many ways and without regard for reciprocation. Rarely does one see a competition where every entrant's goal seems to be to help the other competitors finish with or ahead of him, but such was the case with the 6th edition of the Philadelphia Marathon. Runners literally yelled at other runners to go faster, to stop walking and to make it to the finish -- in many cases pushing runners who would have finished behind to finish in front. What would Wright think of this, people working to help other people win? Wright argues that, "Humans are designed by a calculating machine?. And that machine designs them to maximize a single currency -- total genetic proliferation, inclusive fitness." Building on Darwinist theory, Wright believes that our psychology and behavior developed many millennia ago to help us pass our own genes on to the next generation. Thus, there is no value in helping someone else unless, by doing so, you are helping to pass along your own genes at the same time. As much as his arguments convinced me, I would greatly like to think that what I watched Sunday was indeed pure altruism. Especially the acts of non-runners, for whom there was no finish line. There was a guy who sat in the middle of the road and played his drums for passersby. There were people who peeked out of their Center City apartments to say "Good morning," people who provided bananas for hungry runners out in Manayunk and of course the couple who passed out beer to runners who just wanted a few extra "carbohydrates." Volunteers handed out water and Gatorade along the road, and doctors were ready with ice and IVs at the finish line. The runner who was doing marathon number 75 -- famous for giving out candy to fellow participants during the race. And a guy from Sweden -- 402 lifetime marathons by his count -- raised spirits in the morning by trying to find a runner from every different state in the U.S. He found seven in the opening two miles. Wright, of course, would simply reply that my notion of "pure" altruism is really just another example of his "reciprocal" altruism and that each act could be explained away by selfish impulses. "Some people are troubled by the idea that their noblest influences spring from their genes' wiliest ploys," Wright says. "If helping a friend is just payment for services -- then what is there to be proud of?" But by the end of his book, Wright is stuck with the same conclusion I reached on Sunday -- we have the potential to do better. Although he stands by his science of "evolutionary psychology," Wright acknowledges that humans are not condemned to act in purely selfish ways. If we understand and break free of our natural selfish tendencies, we become what Wright terms "moral animals." "Go above and beyond the call of a smoothly functioning conscience; help those who aren't likely to help you in return, and do so when nobody is watching," Wright says in his conclusion. "This is one way to be a truly moral animal. Now, we can see how hard this is, how right Samuel Smiles was to say that the good life is a battle against, 'moral ignorance, selfishness and vice.'" It is hard to imagine that Wright would not be proud of what transpired up and down the streets of Philadelphia Sunday as "The city that loves you back" selflessly cheered and assisted 5,000 athletes toward personal success. Altruism without reciprocity -- an achievement everyone who was part of the Philly Marathon can be proud of.