Generally speaking, altruism in ethics often proves the rationality of altruism from the abstract human instinct and human needs. On the one hand, altruists use the altruistic behavior of animals, especially those with high sociality, such as social insects, wolves and birds, to prove that human beings also have this altruistic motivation in nature. Among them, the most typical is the social and biological viewpoint popular in the west. For example, Edward O. Wilson, a professor at Harvard University in the United States, made a detailed analysis and comparison between animal altruism and human altruism in his magnum opus Sociobiology: A New Synthesis, and drew a series of conclusions with great influence in the West, arguing that natural selection fundamentally supported the altruistic behavior of animals and people by increasing the altruistic behavior of biological individuals.
On the other hand, altruists often think that people's instinctive needs are multifaceted, that is, people are selfish and beneficial, half are beasts and half are angels. "... Kindness exists, no matter how much it is ... In human nature, besides the ferocity of wolves and the viciousness of snakes, there is always some kindness of pigeons. This view is consistent with utilitarianism or reasonable egoism in treating people's altruistic behavior, and attempts to use this view to alleviate people's selfishness.
Just as egoism violently attacked altruism in the past and now, altruism constantly attacked egoism in the past and now, thinking that egoism is "the fall of human nature." This debate between egoism and altruism is still an unsolved case.
According to the principle of collectivism, whether it is egoism or altruism, this abstract view of human nature is a misinterpretation of social and historical phenomena. Marx and Engels made an in-depth analysis of human self-interest and altruism in German Ideology, holding that self-interest and altruism are only a unified split form of interests. In the illusory collective of the exploiting class, the old-style division of labor and private ownership have caused serious opposition between collective interests and individual interests, which has led to such a situation: the state, as the representative of universal interests, requires individual interests to make sacrifices for national interests and instills this "altruism" into people. As an individual who pursues personal interests, he emphasizes people's "selfishness" and demands to implement the moral principle of egoism, taking personal interests as the basis of morality and taking the realization of personal interests as the highest "virtue". Finally, in the whole society, people's opposing attitudes towards the moral principles of egoism and altruism are completely exposed: "Some of them are angry with egoism and seek a way out from the moral education of altruism; Others emphasize the creative and enterprising spirit of egoism and individualism; Others want to take a small part from everyone and emphasize the necessity of individualistic entrepreneurship, but on the basis of morality and within the scope of morality. "
Therefore, egoism and altruism, as two forms of individual self-realization under the condition of split and confrontation of private ownership society, their opposition comes from private ownership society instead of human nature. It is in this sense that Marx and Engels said: "... * * * Producers do not use egoism to oppose self-sacrifice, nor do they use self-sacrifice to oppose egoism. Theoretically speaking, they understand this opposition neither from the emotional form nor from the exaggerated ideological form, but to reveal the material root of this opposition. With the disappearance of material roots, this opposition will naturally disappear. "
From this root of altruism, we can see the fundamental difference between altruism and collectivism.
First, altruism is the product of the contradictory forms of unified interests in private ownership society, while collectivism is the product of the proletarian revolutionary movement to eliminate such opposing forms of interests.
Second, altruism eulogizes human altruism and sacrifice spirit from human abstract instinct, while collectivism scientifically reveals the essence of human altruism and sacrifice for the collective from the great historical mission of the proletariat and the complete liberation of human and society.
Third, when it comes to people's altruism, utilitarianism often contains an anti-personal tendency and does not understand the dialectical unity relationship between individual interests and collective interests, so it is often easy to become an ascetic, and religious asceticism morality is a typical example; Collectivism talks about the spirit of human sacrifice, which does not contain anti-personal tendency, but takes personal sacrifice as a necessary form of personal self-realization on the basis of correctly understanding the dialectical relationship between personal interests and collective interests.
Fourth, the altruistic spirit contained in altruism, due to its theoretical and practical limitations, is often empty talk, and may eventually be expressed in the form of egoism. At most, it is just the spirit of self-sacrifice and a lofty moral choice based on moral freedom.
In real life, a strict distinction between collectivism and altruism is of great practical significance for us to accurately grasp the meaning of collectivism and correctly implement the principle of collectivism. Some comrades equate collectivism with altruism unilaterally, and criticize collectivism by quoting Marx and Engels' views on opposing self-sacrifice without egoism. This view that the opposition between collectivism and individualism and egoism is simply compared to the opposition between altruism and egoism is extremely harmful in practice, which often causes people's "rebellious" psychology and deepens their misunderstanding of collectivism principles. Therefore, we must carefully distinguish between collectivism and altruism in practice, and repeatedly state that collectivism contains altruism, but it never comes down to altruism in order to defend the purity of collectivism principle.