 Batson’s research program is compelling, and he certainly has shown that the empathy-altruism hypothesis is “in the hunt”, but his findings are not conclusive.  There are a number of reasonable challenges to the methodology and the conclusions in some of Batson’s studies.  Setting these out in detail is a substantial project (see Stich, Doris, &amp; Roedder 2010). But there is also a plausible egoistic hypothesis that has not been systematically explored. 