Altruism and Ambition in the Dynamic Moral Life
Accepted version
Peer-reviewed
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Repository DOI
Change log
Authors
Dougherty, Tom
Abstract
Some people are such impressive altruists that they seem to us to already be doing more than enough. And yet they see themselves as compelled to do even more. Can our view be reconciled with theirs? Can a moderate view of beneficence’s demands be made consistent with a requirement to be ambitiously altruistic? I argue that a reconciliation is possible if we adopt a dynamic view of beneficence, which addresses the pattern that our altruism is required to take over time. This frees up theoretical space for understanding how a moral duty of self-development can intersect with the requirements of beneficence, so that the amount that we are required to sacrifice increases without our beneficence becoming immoderate.
Description
Keywords
altruism, beneficence, demandingness, requirement, self-development
Journal Title
Australasian Journal of Philosophy
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
0004-8402
1471-6828
1471-6828
Volume Title
Publisher
Informa UK Limited