Led by Prof. Dr. med. Lutz Goetzmann. Altruism itself is underexplored in psychoanalysis. The topic’s importance for learners is its investigation into a peculiar form of altruism. Living kidney donors are unusual, extreme cases in which the acceptable costs to the benefactor far exceed an acceptable threshold for most people. There are many instances of helping a stranger in need, but few would undergo major abdominal surgery with the attendant increased risk of kidney failure themselves. These extreme cases, then, reveal unique features that are otherwise absent, highlight key factors less salient, and offer new opportunities for hypothesis building in typical cases of altruism in psychoanalytic practice.