Many wealthy people give vast sums of money away to charity. From a moral point of view, are they doing something worthy? Should we applaud them and praise them for this?
There is no doubt that the large amounts given away by such people as Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet (who I've never heard of, but someone said he gives lots away) or historical figures such as Carnegie or Rockefeller, can go a long way towards relieving the suffferings of the poor, and providing them with opportunities in life. And these acts of charity get a lot of attention from the media. But we are here concerned with the moral aspect. How worthy are these acts of charity by these fabulously wealthy men?
I want to try a philosophy thought experiment. Before I do, maybe it should be said that, often, a wealthy person can trade off a charitable gift against a tax break, so his loss is not really as much as it seems. But to keep things simple in the thought experiment, let's allow the rich men to have their tax break and just look at it in simple terms?
A Thought Experiment
You have ten dollars. I have ten billion dollars. We each give $1 to charity. Our contributions are exactly the same amount. From a moral point of view, which is the most worthy?
Yours. You may need all your $10 dollars to feed your family, so $1 is a big sacrifice. I will not miss $1, I won't even notice it.
Again, you have ten dollars. I have ten billion dollars. You give $1, which is 10% of your total wealth. I give one billion dollars, which is 10% of my total wealth. So we have given the same proportion of our wealth away. I have given away ONE BILLION DOLLARS, a staggering amount of money! From a moral point of view, surely now, my contribution is more worthy than yours? Or at least, it's equally worthy, isn't it?
No. Because you have only $9 left to feed your family, but I have $9 billion. I think I'll probably manage OK on that.
Again, you have ten dollars. I have ten billion dollars. How can I make a contribution to charity that will, from a moral point of view, be the equal of yours?
Could it be that, in order to equal in worthiness your contribution of one dollar, I have to give $9,999,999,991?
Yes, because, in a charitable contribution, what really counts is not how much you give, but how much you have left. If I am left with only $9, I will feel the same pain and worry as you, so only then will I have made the same sacrifice as you.
So the acclaim that is given to rich men by the newspapers and the network news channels, when they give away minute portions of their fortunes, is totally misdirected. I'm not saying they should not give money away; I think it's good that they do. I'm not saying either that they should leave themselves with only nine dollars. What I'm saying is that it needs to be put into perspective. When they make these admittedly huge gifts, they should not praised and acclaimed as though they were especially virtuous and worthy men, as though the size of their giving made them automatically worthy of praise.
Showing posts with label virtue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label virtue. Show all posts
Patience Does Not Seem to Be One of the Seven Virtues
Here are some random thoughts that have arisen from the discussion that started on my previous post about whether or not patience is a virtue, as the saying goes.
First thought: As I hinted in the other post, the word virtue comes from the Latin vir, meaning a man. So, for the ancient Romans, the good qualities of a person that we now call virtues were those qualities which go to make a good man. Women, of course, had no place in society, no vote, no rights, and they were legally deprived of citizenship, being subject entirely to the whim of their father or husband. So the qualities were those of an honourable man, and that is why the word has come to us as "virtue".
The notions of honour in Roman society were actually quite similar to those of the Samurai, which many people in the present day seem to admire, often at the same time criticising the honour system of the West, which comes to us from the Romans. But that's another matter altogether.
In the first few centuries of the Common Era, when Christianity was spreading fast across the Roman Empire, it began to be accepted that there were just seven virtues. They were:
Prudence
Temperance
Justice
Fortitude
Faith
Hope
Love
The last three were considered to be religious virtues, and the first four were called cardinal virtues. Why cardinal virtues? Because there were those who enjoyed the idea of a system, and would look for all kinds of correspondences in everything. So they associated each of the four virtues with a point of the compass, North, South, East, and West. The four virtues also were associated with the elements Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Also each of them was associated with three of the star-signs of Astrology, and further with certain of the cards in the so-called Major Arcana of the Tarot pack.
I mention these purely as historical curiosities. If anyone wants to believe that these associations are valid, you are more than welcome to, but personally I think they go just a little bit too far!
The last one of the "religious" virtues, Love, needs some explaining. It used to be known as "charity", but this came from an over-literal translation in the King James Bible of the word caritas. This word means love, in a caring sort of way, note the similarity. Our word charity means alms-giving, and this sense of alms-giving is not really present in the Bible passage in question, which is from 1 Corinthians 13. This is the passage that a lot of people get read out at their wedding.
It's not only that last one that needs explaining though. All the others, in one way or another, need to be examined carefully if we are to decide whether or not we are leading the virtuous life by keeping to them...
The thing is, I'm running out of time on this post, so if anyone else would like to start the ball rolling, so to speak, feel free!
Maybe could start by wondering why is it that PATIENCE does not appear on the list?
First thought: As I hinted in the other post, the word virtue comes from the Latin vir, meaning a man. So, for the ancient Romans, the good qualities of a person that we now call virtues were those qualities which go to make a good man. Women, of course, had no place in society, no vote, no rights, and they were legally deprived of citizenship, being subject entirely to the whim of their father or husband. So the qualities were those of an honourable man, and that is why the word has come to us as "virtue".
The notions of honour in Roman society were actually quite similar to those of the Samurai, which many people in the present day seem to admire, often at the same time criticising the honour system of the West, which comes to us from the Romans. But that's another matter altogether.
In the first few centuries of the Common Era, when Christianity was spreading fast across the Roman Empire, it began to be accepted that there were just seven virtues. They were:
Prudence
Temperance
Justice
Fortitude
Faith
Hope
Love
The last three were considered to be religious virtues, and the first four were called cardinal virtues. Why cardinal virtues? Because there were those who enjoyed the idea of a system, and would look for all kinds of correspondences in everything. So they associated each of the four virtues with a point of the compass, North, South, East, and West. The four virtues also were associated with the elements Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Also each of them was associated with three of the star-signs of Astrology, and further with certain of the cards in the so-called Major Arcana of the Tarot pack.
I mention these purely as historical curiosities. If anyone wants to believe that these associations are valid, you are more than welcome to, but personally I think they go just a little bit too far!
The last one of the "religious" virtues, Love, needs some explaining. It used to be known as "charity", but this came from an over-literal translation in the King James Bible of the word caritas. This word means love, in a caring sort of way, note the similarity. Our word charity means alms-giving, and this sense of alms-giving is not really present in the Bible passage in question, which is from 1 Corinthians 13. This is the passage that a lot of people get read out at their wedding.
It's not only that last one that needs explaining though. All the others, in one way or another, need to be examined carefully if we are to decide whether or not we are leading the virtuous life by keeping to them...
The thing is, I'm running out of time on this post, so if anyone else would like to start the ball rolling, so to speak, feel free!
Maybe could start by wondering why is it that PATIENCE does not appear on the list?
Patience - is it really a virtue?
Patience is a virtue,
Possess it if you can,
Seldom found in woman,
Never found in man.
I found this quote on Google. It's anonymous, as far as I know. Sounds ok, doesn't it? But is it true?
Most of us nowadays, when we consider doing something, like buying a product, joining a club, trying a new diet, or maybe cultivating virtue, tend to ask ourselves: What's in it for me? (Be honest now!) So perhaps we should look at exactly what virtue means before going any further...
The word virtue comes to us via Old French, from the Latin virtus. This word in Latin means manliness or courage, and it in turn is from the word vir, which means a man. Our word virile is from the same source. The word virtus also has the meaning of "effectiveness" and we see this use in the word virtual. As in "virtual reality", giving the sense of something that has the effect of being real.
Ok so far? For the Romans, someone who showed manliness or courage was automatically a good sort of person, so the word virtue came to be applied to those qualities that a courageous and manly fellow would have.
If you look at the quote at the top though, it seems that patience is a virtue that men don't have at all.
Looking a bit further into this, if you look at the word patience, you find something even more interesting. It again comes from Latin, patientia, with the original meaning of "endurance". If we look a bit closer we find that the word passion comes from the same root word. Also the Greek word pathos (suffering) is from the same root meaning, and this one comes into words like "sympathy" (suffering together). The word passion tends to have a sexy sort of meaning for most people today, but in former times, it meant suffering. So for example, there was the Passion of Jesus on the cross, meaning the suffering.
I found another quote, this time from someone called Lyman Adams (who I have to confess I never heard of before), which goes, "Patience is passion tamed." This seems a bit absurd now. Rather like saying "Green is green".
Here's another quote I found. "Patience can't be acquired overnight. It is just like building up a muscle. Every day you need to work on it."
(I think that's enough quotes for one day.) But the question is: Why should you bother to acquire patience?
Well first, there are many situations where you just won't get what you want right this instant, or even this year. So why stress about it? Have patience!
Sometimes, to keep a good relationship going, you need to practise the art of forbearance, not getting angry with your partner or parents or children, even when you have good cause to. Have patience!
Or when you see the events in the world not really going the way you think they should? Do whatever you can, and hope for the best to come. Have patience!
All these situations have got something in them for you to gain if you have patience in them.
So what do you think? Patience really is a virtue then?
Just one more quote, and this is the last one, I promise!
"Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you, but not in the one ahead."
Possess it if you can,
Seldom found in woman,
Never found in man.
I found this quote on Google. It's anonymous, as far as I know. Sounds ok, doesn't it? But is it true?
Most of us nowadays, when we consider doing something, like buying a product, joining a club, trying a new diet, or maybe cultivating virtue, tend to ask ourselves: What's in it for me? (Be honest now!) So perhaps we should look at exactly what virtue means before going any further...
The word virtue comes to us via Old French, from the Latin virtus. This word in Latin means manliness or courage, and it in turn is from the word vir, which means a man. Our word virile is from the same source. The word virtus also has the meaning of "effectiveness" and we see this use in the word virtual. As in "virtual reality", giving the sense of something that has the effect of being real.
Ok so far? For the Romans, someone who showed manliness or courage was automatically a good sort of person, so the word virtue came to be applied to those qualities that a courageous and manly fellow would have.
If you look at the quote at the top though, it seems that patience is a virtue that men don't have at all.
Looking a bit further into this, if you look at the word patience, you find something even more interesting. It again comes from Latin, patientia, with the original meaning of "endurance". If we look a bit closer we find that the word passion comes from the same root word. Also the Greek word pathos (suffering) is from the same root meaning, and this one comes into words like "sympathy" (suffering together). The word passion tends to have a sexy sort of meaning for most people today, but in former times, it meant suffering. So for example, there was the Passion of Jesus on the cross, meaning the suffering.
I found another quote, this time from someone called Lyman Adams (who I have to confess I never heard of before), which goes, "Patience is passion tamed." This seems a bit absurd now. Rather like saying "Green is green".
Here's another quote I found. "Patience can't be acquired overnight. It is just like building up a muscle. Every day you need to work on it."
(I think that's enough quotes for one day.) But the question is: Why should you bother to acquire patience?
Well first, there are many situations where you just won't get what you want right this instant, or even this year. So why stress about it? Have patience!
Sometimes, to keep a good relationship going, you need to practise the art of forbearance, not getting angry with your partner or parents or children, even when you have good cause to. Have patience!
Or when you see the events in the world not really going the way you think they should? Do whatever you can, and hope for the best to come. Have patience!
All these situations have got something in them for you to gain if you have patience in them.
So what do you think? Patience really is a virtue then?
Just one more quote, and this is the last one, I promise!
"Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you, but not in the one ahead."
Reason as a Motive to Action
Aristotle was of the opinion (Nicomachean Ethics, Book 6) that the aim or end of the process of willing is set only by our desires, and that reason is required to discover the means to achieve those ends. This was echoed by David Hume, who wrote, in Treatise on Human Nature, that "reason is and ought only to be the slave of the passions". Thus the ends at which we aim are determined by our innate instincts and preferences, leaving reason to assist only in finding the best ways to attain these ends.This view has in the past been challenged in a variety of ways.
1. Sometimes the desire to act in a consistent manner and avoid contradiction - as it is sometimes called, to behave rationally - may override other desires. Thus a thief may feel a pang of pity for his victims, but he would very likely pull himself together by arguing that he should not allow his emotions to get in the way of pursuing his professional calling.
2. When there is a choice of desirable options to aim for, then reason will be called on to choose between them, so in that sense, reason could be said to be setting the aims in this situation.
3. A strong criticism of the theory is that it makes an artificial distinction between reason and desire which does not exist in practice. The mind exists and operates as a unity, with the "component" parts of it working together in a seamless manner.
4. Reason and reflection may suggest a course of action, and if this is later accompanied by a desire the action may be put into effect. Some might argue that desire is still the determining factor, but here, reasoning has also played a part.
5. Introspection (a reasoning process) may lead us to suspend our judgement, and leave the execution of a desirable course of action until a later time, after which it may happen that other considerations have arisen which will influence our desires. For example, if I write an angry letter to someone, it may happen that if I do not send it immediately, but perhaps wait until next morning, I may discover some rational considerations which make the sending of the letter seem less desirable.
These objections (and others) can lead us on to the possibility of our actions being determined, not so much by our desires and instincts, as by a "sense of duty" or conscience.
Socrates, who is often celebrated as the founder of Western philosophy, held that knowledge is virtue. In his view, a clear understanding of what is good would inevitably overcome all our other tendencies to action and thus would lead to right conduct.
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