Abstract

Altruism is consistently identified as the dominant motive for body donation. Over 12 months, 843 people who requested body donation information packs also completed research questionnaires that included open-ended questions about their motives. Abductive analysis suggested two distinct sets of altruistic motives: those seeking benefits for medical professionals and patient groups (“medical altruism”) and those seeking benefits for friends and family (“intimate altruism”). Either could facilitate or impede body donation. Altruism may not be best understood as a unitary motive invariably promoting body donation. Rather, it is a characteristic of various motives, each of which seek benefits for specific beneficiaries.

摘要

利他主义一直被认为是身体捐赠的主要动机。在 12 个月内，843 名索取遗体捐赠信息包的人还完成了研究问卷，其中包括有关其动机的开放式问题。溯因分析提出了两种截然不同的利他动机：为医疗专业人员和患者群体谋取利益（“医疗利他主义”）和为朋友和家人谋取利益（“亲密利他主义”）。两者都可能促进或阻碍尸体捐赠。利他主义可能不能最好地理解为总是促进身体捐赠的单一动机。相反，它是各种动机的特征，每种动机都为特定的受益人谋取利益。