An ethical guide to responsible giving

https://theconversation.com/an-ethical-guide-to-responsible-giving-87984

created by ADefiniteDescription on 17/01/2020 at 20:04 UTC

202 upvotes, 8 top-level comments (showing 8)

Comments

Comment by GuruJ_ at 18/01/2020 at 13:20 UTC

28 upvotes, 2 direct replies

I find the article weird for its near-complete failure to examine how charity and government are intertwined.

In general, charity represents a failure of government. The tax I pay on my income should be sufficient for government to alleviate poverty, provide equitable access to education, and so on.

However, in a democracy there will always be a significant number of people dissatisfied with the government policy of the day.

As such there does need to be an ability for people to be generous in ways that address perceived gaps which (in that person's mind) should be the responsibility of a government. This is different, in my mind, from an "ethical" mandate to give.

On the other hand, philanthropic giving and giving to a cause are often not charitable and thus will always be separate from government - unless a genuine case for social benefit can be made (eg funding the operations of a Philharmonic orchestra).

Comment by [deleted] at 18/01/2020 at 09:46 UTC

13 upvotes, 2 direct replies

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Comment by [deleted] at 18/01/2020 at 14:45 UTC

2 upvotes, 2 direct replies

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Comment by [deleted] at 18/01/2020 at 00:57 UTC

2 upvotes, 1 direct replies

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Comment by BernardJOrtcutt at 18/01/2020 at 09:13 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

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