Download or read book Selfishness Altruism and Rationality written by Howard Margolis and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1984-10-15 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do we volunteer time? Why do we contribute money? Why, even, do we vote, if the effect of a single vote is negligible? Rationality-based microeconomic models are hard-pressed to explain such social behavior, but Howard Margolis proposes a solution. He suggests that within each person there are two selves, one selfish and the other group-oriented, and that the individual follows a Darwinian rule for allocating resources between those two selves. "Howard Margolis's intriguing ideas . . . provide an alternative to the crude models of rational choice that have dominated economics and political science for too long."—Times Literary Supplement

Download or read book Selfishness Altruism and Rationality written by Howard Margolis and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Virtue of Selfishness written by Ayn Rand and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1964-11-01 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays that sets forth the moral principles of Objectivism, Ayn Rand's controversial, groundbreaking philosophy. Since their initial publication, Rand's fictional works—Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged—have had a major impact on the intellectual scene. The underlying theme of her famous novels is her philosophy, a new morality—the ethics of rational self-interest—that offers a robust challenge to altruist-collectivist thought. Known as Objectivism, her divisive philosophy holds human life—the life proper to a rational being—as the standard of moral values and regards altruism as incompatible with man's nature. In this series of essays, Rand asks why man needs morality in the first place, and arrives at an answer that redefines a new code of ethics based on the virtue of selfishness. More Than 1 Million Copies Sold!

Download or read book In Defense of Selfishness written by Peter Schwartz and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2015-06-02 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From childhood, we're taught one central, non-controversial idea about morality: self-sacrifice is a virtue. It is universally accepted that serving the needs of others, rather than our own, is the essence of morality. To be ethical—it is believed—is to be altruistic. Questioning this belief is regarded as tantamount to questioning the self-evident. Here, Peter Schwartz questions it. In Defense of Selfishness refutes widespread misconceptions about the meaning of selfishness and of altruism. Basing his arguments on Ayn Rand's ethics of rational self-interest, Schwartz demonstrates that genuine selfishness is not exemplified by the brutal plundering of an Attila the Hun or the conniving duplicity of a Bernard Madoff. To the contrary, such people are acting against their actual, long-range interests. The truly selfish individual is committed to moral principles and lives an honest, productive, self-respecting life. He does not feed parasitically off other people. Instead, he renounces the unearned, and deals with others—in both the material and spiritual realms—by offering value for value, to mutual benefit. The selfish individual, Schwartz maintains, lives by reason, not force. He lives by production and trade, not by theft and fraud. He disavows the mindlessness of the do-whatever-you-feel-like emotionalist, and upholds rationality as his primary virtue. He takes pride in his achievements, and does not sacrifice himself to others—nor does he sacrifice others to himself. According to the code of altruism, however, you must embrace self-sacrifice. You must subordinate yourself to others. Altruism calls, not for cooperation and benevolence, but for servitude. It demands that you surrender your interests to the needs of others, that you regard serving others as the moral justification of your existence, that you be willing to suffer so that a non-you might benefit. To this, Schwartz asks simply: Why? Why should the fact that you have achieved any success make you indebted to those who haven't? Why does the fact that someone needs your money create a moral entitlement to it, while the fact that you've earned it, doesn't? Using vivid, real-life examples, In Defense of Selfishness illustrates the iniquity of requiring one man to serve the needs of another. This provocative book challenges readers to re-examine the standard by which they decide what is morally right or wrong.

Download or read book Altruism written by Niall Scott and published by McGraw-Hill Education (UK). This book was released on 2007-11-16 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A discussion of altruism, drawing on different disiplinary perspectives, could hardly be more timely, and this book is a thoughtful and insightful contribution to the debate." Ruth Chadwick - Distinguished Research Professor and Director, Cardiff University What motivates us to be altruistic? How did an altruistic trait evolve in humans, given that evolutionary theory assumes we are self-interested? What sorts of people are altruistic and in what circumstances? Is the welfare state a channel for altruism or does it crowd out people’s altruistic motivations? This accessible book is the first introduction to the idea of altruism. It explores how we have come to be altruistic, and considers why it is important to remain altruistic, not just for the sake of others, but in order maintain the fragile fabric of human society. The book surveys the history of the concept of altruism and examines it from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including moral philosophy, evolutionary biology, psychology, economics and political science. It then attempts to bring together the distinct issues and concerns of these disciplines to arrive at a unified understanding of altruism. The rational self-interested individual of economics is compared with the altruist who exhibits the virtues of empathy, compassion and benevolence. The book also discusses heroic altruism, such as that displayed by rescuers of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, and psychological experiments which seek to identify the altruistic trait. Scott and Seglow argue that altruism is easily extinguished and hard to nourish, but vital for a fundamentally human future. Academics and students in social sciences and philosophy will find Altruism of great interest. So too will professionals in the voluntary and charitable sectors and journalists involved in communicating social scientific and philosophical ideas to the public.

Download or read book Does Altruism Exist written by David Sloan Wilson and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that altruism is an inherent factor of group functionality and discusses how studying group function can promote positive changes to the human condition.

Download or read book The Virtue of Selfishness written by Ayn Rand and published by Signet Book. This book was released on 1964 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sets forth the moral principles of objectivism, the philosophy that holds men's life as the standard of moral values and regards altruism as incompatible with man's nature and a free society.

Download or read book The Ayn Rand Lexicon written by Ayn Rand and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1988-01-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A prolific writer, bestselling novelist, and world-renowned philosopher, Ayn Rand defined a full system of thought--from epistemology to aesthetics. Her writing is so extensive and the range of issues she covers so enormous that those interested in finding her discussions of a given topic may have to search through many sources to locate the relevant passage. The Ayn Rand Lexicon brings together all the key ideas of her philosophy of Objectivism. Begun under Rand's supervision, this unique volume is an invaluable guide to her philosophy or reason, self-interest and laissez-faire capitalism--the philosophy so brilliantly dramatized in her novels The Fountainhead, We the Living, and Anthem.

Download or read book Egoism and Altruism written by Ronald Dmitri Milo and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hobbes, T. Self-love and society.--Butler, J. Upon the love of our neighbour.--Hume, D. Morality, self-love, and benevolence.--Kant, I. Morality and the duty of love toward other men.--Schlick, M. Hedonism and egoism.--Broad, C.D. Egoism as a theory of human motives.--Slote, M.A. An empirical basis for psychological egoism.--Aronfreed, J. Altruistic behavior.--Nagel, T. The possibility of altruism.--Bibliography (p. 131-133).

Download or read book The Heart of Altruism written by Kristen Renwick Monroe and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1998-07-21 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is all human behavior based on self-interest? Many social and biological theories would argue so, but such a perspective does not explain the many truly heroic acts committed by people willing to risk their lives to help others. Kristen Monroe boldly lays the groundwork for a social theory toward altruism by examining the experiences described by altruists themselves.

Download or read book Selfishness Altruism and Money written by Antonio Luigi Paolilli and published by Scientific Research Publishing, Inc. USA. This book was released on 2015-04-22 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book I present a study about the human economic relations, at the light of what I believe to be their main factors: selfishness, altruism in its various forms and then the aptitude to cooperation and to exchange. After a short comparison between social insects and human societies, I identify a peculiar instrument of human relations: money. I explain why money cannot be considered neutral and how it is the basis of the functioning of an economic system, often determining its behaviors and results.

Download or read book Ethics Rationality and Economic Behaviour written by Francesco Farina and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The connection between economics and ethics is as old as economics itself, and central to both disciplines. The essays included in the present volume provide an analysis of the connections between ethics and economics as viewed from several different - oft

Download or read book Choice Welfare and Measurement written by Amartya Sen and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Choice, Welfare and Measurement contains many of Amartya Sen's most important contributions to economic analysis and methods, including papers on individual and social choice, preference and rationality, and aggregation and economic measurement. A substantial introductory essay interrelates his diverse concerns, and also analyzes discussions generated by the original papers, focusing on the underlying issues."--P. [4] of cover.

Download or read book Picoeconomics written by George Ainslie and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1992-04-24 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Ainslie examines an elementary human paradox: that we are endangered by our own wishes.

Download or read book The Virtue of Selfishness written by Ayn Rand and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Economics of Altruism written by Stefano Zamagni and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 1995 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains 34 articles on the economics of altruism published after 1975. The articles are grouped under 6 headings: the emergence of altruistic behaviour, varieties of altruism, the relevance of altruism and selfishness, altruism and allocation of resources, evolutionary dynamics of altruism, extended rationality and altruistic behaviour. It should be welcomed by all those with an interest in economics, philosophy, psychology and sociology.

Download or read book The Science of Self Control written by Howard Rachlin and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book proposes a new science of self-control based on the principles of behavioral psychology and economics. Claiming that insight and self-knowledge are insufficient for controlling one's behavior, Howard Rachlin argues that the only way to achieve such control--and ultimately happiness--is through the development of harmonious patterns of behavior. Most personal problems with self-control arise because people have difficulty delaying immediate gratification for a better future reward. The alcoholic prefers to drink now. If she is feeling good, a drink will make her feel better. If she is feeling bad, a drink will make her feel better. The problem is that drinking will eventually make her feel worse. This sequence--the consistent choice of a highly valued particular act (such as having a drink or a smoke) that leads to a low-valued pattern of acts--is called "the primrose path." To avoid it, the author presents a strategy of "soft commitment," consisting of the development of valuable patterns of behavior that bridge over individual temptations. He also proposes, from economics, the concept of the substitutability of "positive addictions," such as social activity or exercise, for "negative addictions," such as drug abuse or overeating. Self-control may be seen as the interaction with one's own future self. Howard Rachlin shows that indeed the value of the whole--of one's whole life--is far greater than the sum of the values of its individual parts.