-Removed-To be honest, I'm a little surprised your haven't backed down from this position. I honestly can't separate Christianity and a call to be altruistic in nature.
Say for example a neighbour's house was on fire and their child was trapped upstairs. Obviously 'no one' would 'want' to rush into a burning building and put their own life at risk, but many faced with such a scenario would do exactly that and demonstrate altruism as it is commonly understood (to put others first despite possible disadvantage to oneself). This kind of selfless act occurs all the time in the world, so I don't understand any argument that altruism doesn't exist.
-Removed-But what if 'the same person was walking down a street in another country and saw a house of fire' and DID rush in. (As some people would, and have). Would this not be a suitable demonstration of altruism and a Gazumption of your view that altruism doesn't exist?
And again, I do not believe a degree of self interest or 'sense of duty' stops an act from being altruistic, in the commonly understood sense. Indeed, I would say that your definition of altruism which seems to require 100% selflessness is a personal misunderstanding of what it actually means to be altruistic.
-Removed-We equally have to define 'self interest'.
I say that parenting is not inherently self interest.
Yes, one may parent because they want someone to look after them in their old age.
Yes, one may parent because they like having children around and it makes them happy.
But when one parents primarily because they love their children and want them to succeed, I do not call that 'self interest' and I do call it 'altruism'.