"[A] valuable contribution to the new literature in ethics on friendship and other caring relationships and on morally significant emotions...as well as to the classic issue of relationships between being happy and being virtuous."-Claudia Card "Instead of trying to generate or motivate altruism from considerations of self-interest, Thomas is concerned with its real, and its important human, origins and connections. Drawing on work from other fields-largely those in the social sciences-be is able to place it well within our experience and show its importance, both in itself and in its connections with much else that we know to be important. Thomas’s book takes up significant areas, too infrequently discussed, and helps us understand them. And it does this in a philosophically sensitive and astute way-showing not only philosophical skills and understanding, but also a humaneness and humanity too often missing in ethical writings."-Michael Stocker, Guttag Professor in Ethics and Political Philosophy, Syracuse University "An elaborate and convincing argument. His aim is to offer a realistic characterization of the role of altruistic motivation in ethics.... Thomas builds a readable, original, and persuasive case."-Ethics
