If you guys haven't read Amartya Sen on altruism, it's worth a look. The "seminal work" is Development as Freedom. Sen argues that sympathy and altruism are not enough to effect change. Commitment (to action) is the key. I was recently co-faculty at a retreat with a female Rabbi who just published a book on the Germans who helped Jews during WWII at risk to their own lives (many died as a result).
Roger: these were (anecdotal) and individual acts of courage from otherwise ordinary people and hardly the result of German cultural conditioning---or was it? And please! find the research. Merle Lefkoff ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
