Preliminary Directions

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Marcel Hénaff
Keyword(s):  
Return On Investment ◽  
Critical Awareness ◽  
Maximum Profit ◽  
Commercial Transaction ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Radical Claim

This introductory chapter provides an overview of how philosophers have understood the concept and practice of the gift. For philosophers, the only true gift is the unreciprocated gift. According to them, to expect that Others return a gift, to call on reciprocity, amounts to pulling back the movement of giving toward oneself, thus canceling the disinterested intent that alone gives meaning to the gesture of offering. This view, however, is not shared by all philosophers; neither does it inform all of their actions. Stated in those terms, this very demanding requirement of generosity might remain out of the reach of the very thinkers who express it. This radical claim, however, is not pure bravado. Its primary purpose is to activate critical awareness. By denying the donor any expectation of a return, it aims to proclaim that the gift as a gesture can never be identified with a commercial transaction. This requirement thus amounts to resisting giving in to self-interested considerations and to reject the domination of an economy directed almost exclusively toward maximum profit and return on investment—in other words, everything philosophers tend to call exchange, without realizing that this word also carries a wealth of noneconomic meanings. The chapter then shows how philosophers tend to understand reciprocity exclusively as self-interested exchange, as opposed to the requirement of unconditional giving that entails—at least implicitly—a rejection of self-interest.

scholarly journals The Common Good in an Age of Moral Hyperpluralism: A Catholic Bioethical Perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 345
Author(s):  
John Kleinsman
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Moral Good ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Innovative Work ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Contemporary Account

This article will argue that the notion of the common good is imperilled by a particular contemporary account of the moral good; one which, because of its (somewhat narrow) emphasis on the individual, readily lends itself to a state of 'moral hyperpluralism' in which 'the good' is primarily defined in terms of the promotion and protection of self-interest. At the same time, it will be argued that any quest to recover the notion of the common good cannot be achieved by either returning to, or holding onto, a more traditional account of morality. It will also be proposed that, as part of the quest to recover the common good, close attention needs to be paid to how the term is understood. The tension between individual autonomy and the welfare of society, and the differing ways in which this tension is resolved within different moral paradigms, will emerge as central to any discussion about the ongoing place of the common good in contemporary legal and moral debates. Finally, it is suggested that a solid basis for articulating a robust account of the common good may be found in the foundational and innovative work being done by thinkers of the gift to establish an alternative account of morality. 

Beyond Multiculturalism

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Todd A. Eisenstadt ◽  
Karleen Jones West
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Environmental Attitudes ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
People’S Attitudes ◽  
Environmental Interests

In this introductory chapter we discuss the assumption of post-materialism championed by Inglehart (1990, 1995): the idea that some groups, such as middle-class urban dwellers, are ideologically or politically predisposed toward environmentalism. We then consider an alternative, vulnerability politics, wherein peoples’ interest in protecting the environment may instead be conditioned by how directly vulnerable they are to the fragility of that environment. The national government’s failures to implement multicultural rights in Ecuadorian indigenous communities, combined with the failures of indigenous communities themselves to unify, open the way for polycentric pluralism to represent indigenous and other environmental interests. This chapter defines these terms and lays out its challenge to the post-materialist argument by showing that strong environmental attitudes can occur precisely where Inglehart says they should not, such as in poor rural areas rather than in affluent urban ones. We situate our study and explain that understanding environmentalism in Ecuador’s Amazon is a matter of realizing that non-Western cultural values, individual political struggles, and material vulnerabilities condition people’s attitudes. More specifically, concern for the environment may be linked to rational self-interest and political identities, rather than being entirely conditioned by the structural cause of material well-being. Once we have established the importance of rational environmentalism by individuals, we then evaluate attitudes in subsequent chapters through this lens.

The Gift of the Godfather

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-50
Author(s):  
Monica Vasile
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Large Array ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Everyday Talk ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Internet Discussion

Based on a large array of sources, from ethnographic fieldwork to Internet discussion forums and archive surveys, this article traces complex gift-giving practices between godparents and godchildren, as they developed and thrived in the region of Transylvania, Romania, from the 1950s onward. I examine, in particular, the monetization of gifts in connection to recent turning points in economic history. Through various case studies, I show how godparenthood relates to notions of calculation, exchange, obligation, debt, care, and charity. The findings suggest a tension at the heart of godparenthood narrative and practice, a tension with many interrelated facets, between exchange and charity, between calculation and solidarity, self-interest, and care. This tension emerges in everyday talk and lived experiences of Romanians and also in broader anthropological discussions about the possibility of altruistic gift and the pitfalls of reciprocity.

Introduction: The Gift of Being Disgusted

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Jan Bryant
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Crucial Difference ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Aesthetic

This introductory chapter outlines the book’s theoretical concerns: how the political is thought as a distinction between politics (le politique) and the political (la politique); the need to argue for hope as a possibility of the present, disentangled from teleological or theological forms, framed by Andrew Benjamin; and, the indivisibility of politics and aesthetics (the political aesthetic) conceptualised by Rancière. It covers the crucial difference between Schmitt’s ‘enemy/friend conflict’ and ‘dissensus’, which Rancière poses as a struggle for emancipation played out on the aesthetic plane. An important thrust of the book is to see artists’ relationships to others as a quality and methodology that inheres in the practice itself. This is a demand for an ethics of practice (Simon Critchley) that disavows the autonomy of art as an act or an object separated from its making or worldly context. [139]

scholarly journals Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn van Zomeren ◽  
John F. Dovidio
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Existential Psychology ◽  
Human Essence ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Will Self ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
Capacity For Change

This introductory chapter discusses the meaning of the human essence in psychology and the potential impact of answers to the question of what is the human essence can have on the field. It highlights key perspectives on “the human essence” presented in the volume, with particular emphasis on the reciprocal relationships among individuality, sociality, and cultural embeddedness. The chapter explains how the evolution of humans’ cognitive abilities produced both unique individual capacities, such as powers of reflexivity, and social adaptations, such as the development of culture. It also discusses individuality as a human essence, which is a view expressed in in several chapters of the volume that draw insights from work on existential psychology, meaning, free will, self-evaluation, goals, and basic physiological processes. Another common theme it identifies across several chapters is that the capacity for change and growth through the pursuit of truth, beyond individual self-interest, represents the human essence. The chapter concludes with an overview of organization and the content of the other chapters in the volume.

Looking the Gift Horse in the Mouth

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Theodore M. Lechterman
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Practice ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Selective Treatment ◽  
Common Trend ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Definition Of

This introductory chapter begins with a case study of a prominent donation by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Reactions to this announcement represent a common trend in criticism of philanthropy that overlooks the value of democracy. The chapter offers a formal definition of philanthropy as a social practice constituted by impersonal gratuitous transfers of private property. It reports recent statistics about the practice’s development. It argues that philanthropy raises distinctive political questions. It summarizes recent work on philanthropy in moral and political philosophy, noting its limited appreciation of democratic concerns. The chapter closes with a preview of the subsequent chapters and a disclaimer about the selective treatment of topics.

Giving Social Ties, Reciprocity in Modern Society

2006 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Adloff ◽  
Steffen Mau
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Basic Principle ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
The Social ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Gift

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the meaning of giftgiving and reciprocity in modern society and thereby following the pointers left by Marcel Mauss. A critique will be made of the dichotomy of self-interest and normatively orientated action that forms the basis of sociology. For this conceptual dichotomization has caused forms of social interaction that cannot be localized either on the side of self-interest or on that of morality. It is the logic of the gift and the reciprocity thus evoked that in our view accompanies and structures all forms of interaction, from the social micro to the macrolevel. It is shown that in modern societies gifts and reciprocities form their own orders of interaction, and not only on a microsocial level. The principle of reciprocity even accompanies as a rule transfers owing to (state) compulsion as well as economic, selective exchange. As a basic principle of processes of sociation it is, fundamentally, present everywhere and in some areas it is explicitly and openly in effect (for example in welfare state transfers). Sociology has for too long overlooked the fact that this principle cannot be traced back either to normativist or to utilitarian explanations and nevertheless represents a principle of construction of modern societies.

scholarly journals Structural Position of the Priest in Gift-Exchange Systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-29
Author(s):  
Nikolay Emelyanov ◽  
Greg Yudin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Integration ◽  
Gift Exchange ◽  
Exchange System ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Structural Position ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Neoliberal Capitalism ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Gift ◽  
To Receive

In this paper, we argue that the priest has a unique structural position to initiate and promote gift exchange. Gift exchange is an important mode of economic integration, one that prevents both cutthroat competition and a parasitic dependence on a centralized hierarchy. In dwelling on gift exchange theory, we demonstrate why the promotion of gifts is largely suppressed nowadays: Marcel Mauss’ second imperative of the gift, that is, the obligation to receive gifts, becomes inoperative under neoliberal capitalism. We rely on Marshall Sahlins’ and Chris Gregory’s analyses to argue that gift giving can be de-blocked by introducing the position of the ‘excluded participant’ who takes part in the gift exchange system but is known to have no self-interest. His presence enables other participants to accept gifts without being afraid of falling into personal bondage. We analyze the Christian theological ideas of the function of the priest in reaching the conclusion that priests are predisposed to take the position of the ‘excluded participant’. On one hand, the priest in persona Christi acts neither on his own behalf nor for his own self-interest, while on the other hand, he remains a member and governor of the community. Historical sources confirm that generating the gift exchange has always been the key activity of priests in Christian communities.

A Charitable Revolution in an Age of Commerce

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-32
Author(s):  
Adam J. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Charitable Giving ◽  
Physical Rehabilitation ◽  
Retirement Home ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Medical Terms ◽  
The Gift

This introductory chapter provides an overview of medieval hospitals. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, hundreds of hospitals and leper houses were founded all over Europe to care for the poor, sick, and vulnerable, and these new charitable institutions received broad support from townspeople, merchants, aristocrats, and ecclesiastics. That these “houses of mercy” were often located in the heart of urban centers, at major points of circulation, and near areas of economic exploitation reflected the degree to which they were easily accessible, highly visible, and thoroughly enmeshed in the local society and economy. As an institution, the medieval hospital was not conceived primarily in medical terms but rather functioned in a variety of ways, including as a religious house, a hostel, a shelter, a retirement home, or a temporary place for physical rehabilitation and convalescence. This book's study of the emergence of hospitals in Champagne casts new light on the nature of religious charity during Europe's first great age of commerce. It demonstrates that far from eroding the power of the gift, the new commercial economy infused charitable giving and service with new social and religious meaning and a heightened expectation of reward.

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