Altruism and Benevolence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23610737 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lawrence Blum (University of Massachusetts Boston, corresponding author), Lawrence A Blum |
| Year | 2015 |
| Pages | 1-2 |
| Publication date | 2015-01-21 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Wiley Encyclopedia of Management (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/9781118785317.weom020050 |
| OpenAlex | W1505997714 |
| ISBN | 9781118785317 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
Altruism is action taken out of concern for others for their own sake. Benevolence is such concern. Altruism does not require self‐sacrifice, although it generally has more moral worth when it does than when it does not. Altruism can bring about satisfaction in the agent. But such satisfaction is seldom the motive for engaging in beneficent action, and when it is, it is not a case of altruism at all. An altruist may fail to bring about benefit to the other, but built into altruism is a concern to discern the other's good, not merely to act on what one (perhaps mistakenly) takes to be her good. As humans, we have reason to care not only that other people's well‐being is enhanced, but also, about the motives for which people engage in actions that bring that result about, even though sometimes those motives are difficult to discern.
Action (physics) · Altruism (biology) · Environmental ethics · Sacrifice · Sociology · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology · Social Psychology · Theology and Philosophy of Evil
| Highly cited | No |
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