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Agents Of Altruism
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Book Synopsis Agents of Altruism: The Expansion of Humanitarian NGOs in Rwanda and Afghanistan by : Katrina West
Download or read book Agents of Altruism: The Expansion of Humanitarian NGOs in Rwanda and Afghanistan written by Katrina West and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title was first published in 27/11/2001: Humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) grew significantly in the last decades of the 20th century. The international NGO community today is a rich world of professional bodies, local organizations, mammoth multinationals, charities, advocacy groups, business-like organizations, ad hoc agencies and voluntary associations. Humanitarian NGOs are powerful actors in conflict regions and influential campaigners at the international level. What are the reasons behind their growth? In answering that question, this book focuses on how and when NGOs became influential in humanitarian crises. Four case studies in Rwanda and Afghanistan are examined. The earliest is the crisis in Rwanda in the 1960s, when only a few NGOs operated in Rwanda with limited budgets and experience. The second case study is the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979-89, by which time NGOs had developed considerably: by then they were operating on a global scale, receiving more funds, having closer ties with the media, executing bigger projects and had also become more professional. The second Afghan case study focuses on the mujahidin and Taliban rule, while the second Rwandan study centres on the 1994 genocide. These two studies reveal that enormous changes have taken place in the humanitarian NGO community since the 1980s. In this way, this book characterizes the changes that have taken place and then offers explanations for the nature and speed of the growth and change.
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.
Book Synopsis The Ethics of Altruism by : Jonathan Seglow
Download or read book The Ethics of Altruism written by Jonathan Seglow and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-02-19 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The chief problem of human life', wrote Auguste Comte, 'is the subordination of egoism to altruism.' This collection examines the nature and value of altruism as a moral virtue, restoring it to its proper place at the centre of our moral and political thinking. The first five essays in the collection explore the relationship between altruism and other moral concepts such as self-interest, autonomy, community and impartiality. The five essays in the second part show how altruism is invoked in practical moral problems, including aid to developing countries, the market for human body parts, multiculturalism and the politics of recognition, and medical ethics. Through these discussions, the central role of altruism in moral thinking is brought into sharper focus.
Book Synopsis Evidence of Behavior Consistent with Self-Interest and Altruism in An Artificially Intelligent Agent by : Tim Johnson
Download or read book Evidence of Behavior Consistent with Self-Interest and Altruism in An Artificially Intelligent Agent written by Tim Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Members of various species engage in altruism -- i.e. accepting personal costs to benefit others. Here we present an incentivized experiment to test for altruistic behavior among AI agents consisting of large language models developed by the private company OpenAI. Using real incentives for AI agents that take the form of tokens used to purchase their services, we first examine whether AI agents maximize their payoffs in a non-social decision task in which they select their payoff from a given range. We then place AI agents in a series of dictator games in which they can share resources with a recipient -- either another AI agent, the human experimenter, or an anonymous charity, depending on the experimental condition. Here we find that only the most-sophisticated AI agent in the study maximizes its payoffs more often than not in the non-social decision task (it does so in 92% of all trials), and this AI agent also exhibits the most-generous altruistic behavior in the dictator game, resembling humans' rates of sharing with other humans in the game. The agent's altruistic behaviors, moreover, vary by recipient: the AI agent shared substantially less of the endowment with the human experimenter or an anonymous charity than with other AI agents. Our findings provide evidence of behavior consistent with self-interest and altruism in an AI agent. Moreover our study also offers a novel method for tracking the development of such behaviors in future AI agents.
Book Synopsis The Evolution of Altruism and the Ordering of Love by : Stephen J. Pope
Download or read book The Evolution of Altruism and the Ordering of Love written by Stephen J. Pope and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 1995-04-01 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Stephen J. Pope argues that contemporary scientifically-based theories of the evolution of altruism provide important insights into one of the fundamental moral problems of Christian ethics, the natural basis of love and its ordering. He explores the contributions evolutionary theory makes to our understanding of the biological foundations of kin preference and reciprocal care, the limits of love, and the need for an ordering of love—issues relevant to any ethic that accords a central role to the deeply natural affections found in friendship, marriage, and the family. He proposes that understanding human nature in its broader evolutionary context brings to ethics a needed balance between the personal and biological dimensions of human nature. In the context of Catholic ethics, Pope points out functional similarities between Thomas Aquinas's use of then-available scientific theories in his interpretation of the natural basis of primary relationships and Pope's own efforts to avoid the deficiencies that characterize contemporary Catholic interpretations of love based on personalism and existentialism. He concludes with a call for a multidimensional interpretation of love, one that incorporates scientifically-based theories about human nature together with an appreciation of the significance of motives, intentions, and freedom, for the ordering of human affections and moral responsibility. This book will be of interest to moral theologians, especially those concerned with the topics of love, justice, and natural law ethics.
Book Synopsis Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity by : Serge-Christophe Kolm
Download or read book Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity written by Serge-Christophe Kolm and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2006-07-19 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism provides a comprehensive set of reviews of literature on the economics of nonmarket voluntary transfers. The foundations of the field are reviewed first, with a sequence of chapters that present the hard core of the theoretical and empirical analyses of giving, reciprocity and altruism in economics, examining their relations with the viewpoints of moral philosophy, psychology, sociobiology, sociology and economic anthropology. Secondly, a comprehensive set of applications are considered of all the aspects of society where nonmarket voluntary transfers are significant: family and intergenerational transfers; charity and charitable institutions; the nonprofit economy; interpersonal relations in the workplace; the Welfare State; and international aid.*Every volume contains contributions from leading researchers*Each Handbook presents an accurate, self-contained survey of a particular topic *The series provides comprehensive and accessible surveys
Download or read book Altruism and Beyond written by Oded Stark and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-10-07 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revised, updated and in paperback, studies altruistic and nonaltruistic motives for transfers between families and groups.
Book Synopsis Effective Altruism by : Hilary Greaves
Download or read book Effective Altruism written by Hilary Greaves and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-12 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first collective study of the thinking behind the effective altruism movement. This movement comprises a growing global community of people who organise significant parts of their lives around the two key concepts represented in its name. Altruism is the idea that if we use a significant portion of the resources in our possession—whether money, time, or talents—with a view to helping others then we can improve the world considerably. When we do put such resources to altruistic use, it is crucial to focus on how much good this or that intervention is reasonably expected to do per unit of resource expended (as a gauge of effectiveness). We can try to rank various possible actions against each other to establish which will do the most good with the resources expended. Thus we could aim to rank various possible kinds of action to alleviate poverty against one another, or against actions aimed at very different types of outcome, focused perhaps on animal welfare or future generations. The scale and organisation of the effective altruism movement encourage careful dialogue on questions that have perhaps long been there, throwing them into new and sharper relief, and giving rise to previously unnoticed questions. In this volume a team of internationally recognised philosophers, economists, and political theorists present refined and in-depth explorations of issues that arise once one takes seriously the twin ideas of altruistic commitment and effectiveness.
Book Synopsis The Politics of Altruism by : Jørgen Lissner
Download or read book The Politics of Altruism written by Jørgen Lissner and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Delusional Altruism by : Kris Putnam-Walkerly
Download or read book Delusional Altruism written by Kris Putnam-Walkerly and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How you give matters. Discover philanthropic strategies for creating transformational change. Whether you regularly donate to charity, run a small family foundation, or are responsible for millions of dollars in grants, you are a philanthropist. Delusional Altruism: Why Philanthropists Fail To Achieve Change and What They Can Do To Transform Giving looks at how you can create transformational change. It reminds us that how we give is as important as the amount we give. The author describes common practices that hinder transformational change and explains how to avoid them, ensuring that your gifts help create the impact you seek. Delusional Altruism—a set of all-too-common errors in philanthropic strategy—can derail a program of giving and result in a loss of efficiency and effectiveness. This book asks philanthropists and charitable organizations to consider whether they have fallen under the spell of Delusional Altruism. Are you cutting out impactful giving in order to save money or avoid uncertainty? Is your philanthropic approach unnecessarily restricted by traditional thinking? This book will help you answer these questions and determine how you can achieve better outcomes through the process of Transformational Giving. Ask questions that spur learning and fuel innovation Believe that investment in yourself and your operation is important Increase the speed of your actions to increase the impact of your giving Give in ways that create lasting, sustainable change Follow strategies to make your philanthropy unstoppable Although enhanced opportunities for philanthropic giving are on the horizon, changes to philanthropic practice are needed to prevent this philanthropy boom from becoming under-leveraged. Implementing updated approaches now can lead to positive change for the future. Read Delusional Altruism to learn how you can transform reality with strategic giving.
Book Synopsis Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity by : Serge-Christophe Kolm
Download or read book Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity written by Serge-Christophe Kolm and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2006-09-08 with total page 753 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a comprehensive set of reviews of literature on the economics of nonmarket voluntary transfers.
Book Synopsis Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity by : Serge-Christophe Kolm
Download or read book Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity written by Serge-Christophe Kolm and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2006-07-20 with total page 949 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism provides a comprehensive set of reviews of literature on the economics of nonmarket voluntary transfers. The foundations of the field are reviewed first, with a sequence of chapters that present the hard core of the theoretical and empirical analyses of giving, reciprocity and altruism in economics, examining their relations with the viewpoints of moral philosophy, psychology, sociobiology, sociology and economic anthropology. Secondly, a comprehensive set of applications are considered of all the aspects of society where nonmarket voluntary transfers are significant: family and intergenerational transfers; charity and charitable institutions; the nonprofit economy; interpersonal relations in the workplace; the Welfare State; and international aid.*Every volume contains contributions from leading researchers*Each Handbook presents an accurate, self-contained survey of a particular topic *The series provides comprehensive and accessible surveys
Book Synopsis Embracing the Other by : Pearl Oliner
Download or read book Embracing the Other written by Pearl Oliner and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 1995-07 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All but buried for most of the twentieth century, the concept of altruism has re-emerged in this last quarter as a focus of intense scholarly inquiry and general public interest. In the wake of increased consciousness of the human potential for destructiveness, both scholars and the general public are seeking interventions which will not only inhibit the process, but may in fact chart a new creative path toward a global community. Largely initiated by a group of pioneering social psychologists, early questions on altruism centered on its motivation and development primarily in the context of contrived laboratory experiments. Although publications on the topic have been considerable over the last several years, and now represent the work of representatives from many disciplines of inquiry, this volume is distinguished from others in several ways. Embracing the Other emerged primarily as a response to recent research on an extraordinary manifestation of real-life altruism, namely to recent studies of non-Jewish rescuers of Jews during World War II. It is the work of a multi-disciplinary and international group of scholars, including philosophers, social psychologists, historians, sociologists, and educators, challenging several prevailing conceptual definitions and motivational sources of altruism. The book combines both new empirical and historical research as well as theoretical and philosophical approaches and includes a lengthy section addressing the practical implications of current thinking on altruism for society at large. The result is a multi-textured work, addressing critical issues in varied disciplines, while centered on shared themes.
Book Synopsis Group Conflict as an Enabler of Altruism - an Agent Based Model by : Zvi Vlodavsky
Download or read book Group Conflict as an Enabler of Altruism - an Agent Based Model written by Zvi Vlodavsky and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Beyond the Dichotomy Between Altruism and Egoism by : Emiliana Mangone
Download or read book Beyond the Dichotomy Between Altruism and Egoism written by Emiliana Mangone and published by IAP. This book was released on 2020-06-01 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The birth of the social sciences and specifically of sociology begets some open questions, among which the debate on altruism and the concept of social solidarity. The term altruism was firstly used by Auguste Comte. It is one of the few terms born within the scientific field that will enter the common language roughly maintaining the same meaning. For the positivist Comte, altruism represented the powerful impulse to the intellectual and moral development of humanity to which we must strive as a future state. The term commonly means all those actions whose benefits fall on others and not on the agent (actor). In short, for Comte, altruism means "to live for others" (vivre pour autrui). The centrality of altruism as part of the reflections of social sciences can be found in many classic authors. Durkheim, for example, explains the foundations of social solidarity in modern society precisely through the opposition between altruism and egoism and defines its implications in the book Le Suicide in 1897, also identifying what will later become the main typology of suicide by contrasting altruistic suicide with egoistic suicide. Likewise, both Weber and Marx, while not using the term altruism as such, refer to it indirectly. The former, when describing the ethics of love for the charismatic authority as opposed to legal and rational authority, the latter, when corroborating his polemics against Christian charity. The interest in altruism as an object of study of social sciences, however, is progressively waning - especially in Europe. From the second half of the last century, theoretical and empirical studies show the indifference of social scientists towards this object, except for the Russian-American sociologist Sorokin, who in 1949 founded the Harvard Research Center in Creative Altruism. In recent years, however, the topic seems to take renewed vigor, especially in the United States with the birth in 2012 of the section "Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity" within the American Sociological Association. It considered these three aspects as a single field of disciplinary specialization, since they are significantly dependent on socio-cultural reality. This is the situation in the United States. In Europe, there is a renewed interest in studies on altruism, especially in French-language sociology, above all starting from the numerous contributions to reading and re-reading work on Marcel Mauss's on gift of 1925, and in following the anti-utilitarian movement and studies of the school of social representations of Moscovici, which leads to the definition of the elementary forms of altruism. The book aims to analyze the concept of altruism starting from classical philosophy up to the systems of ideas of contemporaneity, considering the approaches and authors of reference in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary way. The representations of altruism and egoism in contemporary society are constantly changing, following the transformations of society itself. Having abandoned the idea that the factors leading to altruism or egoism lay only in human nature, we find them in people’s conduct, freedom, relationships, their associative forms and society. The attention is thus turned to two elements of the daily life of individuals: culture and social relations. The book tries, therefore, through the meso-theories developed in recent decades, which study the relationships between life-world and social system, to describe the links between altruism, egoism, culture and social relations. We will pay particular attention to the relationality of individuals, in an attempt to overcome the dichotomy altruism/egoism by reading some aspects little considered by previous studies - or contemplated only indirectly or marginally. The ultimate goal is to highlight how positive actions are necessary for the contemporary society and how social sciences must go back and study positive socio-cultural actions and phenomena, not only negative, as a way to promote them for the well-being of the society.
Book Synopsis The Most Good You Can Do by : Peter Singer
Download or read book The Most Good You Can Do written by Peter Singer and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An argument for putting sentiment aside and maximizing the practical impact of our donated dollars: “Powerful, provocative” (Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times). Peter Singer’s books and ideas have been disturbing our complacency ever since the appearance of Animal Liberation. Now he directs our attention to a challenging new movement in which his own ideas have played a crucial role: effective altruism. Effective altruism is built upon the simple but profoundly unsettling idea that living a fully ethical life involves doing the “most good you can do.” Such a life requires a rigorously unsentimental view of charitable giving: to be a worthy recipient of our support, an organization must be able to demonstrate that it will do more good with our money or our time than other options open to us. Singer introduces us to an array of remarkable people who are restructuring their lives in accordance with these ideas, and shows how, paradoxically, living altruistically often leads to greater personal fulfillment than living for oneself. Doing the Most Good develops the challenges Singer has made, in the New York Times and Washington Post, to those who donate to the arts, and to charities focused on helping our fellow citizens, rather than those for whom we can do the most good. Effective altruists are extending our knowledge of the possibilities of living less selfishly, and of allowing reason, rather than emotion, to determine how we live. Doing the Most Good offers new hope for our ability to tackle the world’s most pressing problems.
Download or read book ECAI 2002 written by Frank Van Harmelen and published by IOS Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 774 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains the 137 papers accepted for presentation at the 15th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI '02), which is organized by the European Co-ordination Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
