Is medicine altruistic? A query from the medical school admissions office

Applicants to medical school often state that they are motivated by a desire to help others. Admissions officers must evaluate these claims, but assessment of altruism is difficult and imprecise.

A purely utilitarian moral philosophy denies the possibility of altruism. However, the Enlightenment philosopher Hume described a force, sympathy, that engages channels of communication between persons and rewards benevolence. Although there are many pretenders to altruism, the medical school interview provides an opportunity to create a channel of sympathy and to assess its authenticity.

By probing for evidence of clinical sympathy, the medical school interviewer may be able to verify whether the applicant's claims of altruism are authentic. Claims of altruism that have not been borne out in action should be viewed with skepticism.