有些人认为人类天生利己，但我们大多数人至少都有一点利他主义。例如，父母为了孩子放弃了自己的部分幸福，士兵为了他人的幸福而冒着生命危险。一些心理学家甚至认为，人类的利他倾向是通过自然选择而形成的。约翰补充说，道德和宗教也暗示了利他行为。但是，肯想知道，利他主义有可能走得太远吗?约翰认为是这样的——例如，一个人收养了尽可能多的孩子，然后对自己不能再收养更多的孩子充满遗憾，这是他们倾向的极端。在肯看来，这些人都是圣人，我们都很崇拜圣人，所以为什么没有人愿意以圣人的方式生活呢?约翰要求把自己放在那个想要拯救所有人的父母的孩子的位置上。在某些时候，孩子可能需要父母的关注。但是，肯问，你在自我放纵和责任之间的界限是什么?当然，为了拯救其他孩子而让自己的孩子挨饿是不可接受的。 But overindulging your own children is also troubling. How can a parent justify buying a brand new toy for their child when there are children who have nothing? The duo concludes that while they admire extreme altruists, they don’t think they have what it takes to be one.

John and Ken welcome guest Larissa MacFarquhar, Staff Writer at The New Yorker and author ofStrangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help．约翰问拉丽莎，像她这样一个成功的记者是如何对一个深刻的哲学困境感兴趣的。她解释说，她一直以来都很崇拜圣人类型的人，但她总是面临着一种令人沮丧的误解:邪恶的人迷人而复杂，而善良的人简单而乏味。她试图消除这种误解，并找到了现实生活中极端利他主义者的例子。约翰问她的遭遇是怎样的;拉丽莎解释说，虽然她喜欢说它们几乎像另一个物种，但这不是真的。他们是普通人，有一种不寻常的动力，尽可能地做到道德，但不是为了他们自己。他们认为这是一个正直的人会做的事。但大多数人会认为他们的心理是不同寻常的，肯说。拉丽莎说有一些心理学理论对她来说是有道理的; these overly altruistic people are often considered pathological, the assumption being that human nature is selfish and so altruism needs to be explained. But the Theory of the Parentified Child stands out to her as an alternative, and said theory is further discussed. Larissa explains her idea of altruism as being a matter of degree.

Ken asks Larissa whether there is a limit to the amount of self-sacrifice one can do. Larissa says that there is. In fact, most extreme altruists have found limits to preserve their sanity; if they gave away everything they had, they would be left with nothing. Ken wonders whether extreme altruists are morally deranged because they don’t realize they are living above the normal call of duty or whether they are more morally pure. Larissa develops the notion that we can do a lot more than we think can. Utilitarianism is also discussed.

Larissa, John, and Ken welcome questions from the audience, and they continue the discussion by tackling questions such as: what is the role of society in developing an altruistic person, how effective is considering the futility of individual action as a means of preventing extreme altruism at an individual level, and the impact of visual stimulus in prompting us to be more altruistic.

• Roving Philosophical Report(Seek to 5:54): Shuka Kalantari talks to two “extreme altruists:” a social worker from Philadelphia who adopted 20 children and a woman who, along with her partner, lives off of only 6% of the couple’s combined income.
  
• 60-Second Philosopher(Seek to 50:00): Ian Shoales speeds through our judgy giving: we are altruistic based on a subconscious notion of the poor getting away with something, and so we put constant constraints on the recipients of donations.