Generosity

Generosity (also called largesse) is the virtue of being liberal in giving, often as gifts.{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Pakaluk|title=Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: An Introduction|year=2005|page=173|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521817424 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c1ZR3AU2WIwC&dq=eleutheriotes&pg=PA173|postscript=explains the translation difficulties and names generosity as the least bad translation of Greek eleutheriotes.}} Generosity is regarded as a virtue by various world religions and philosophies and is often celebrated in cultural and religious ceremonies.

Scientific investigation into generosity has examined the effect of a number of scenarios and games on individuals' generosity, potential links with neurochemicals such as oxytocin, and generosity's relationship with similar feelings such as empathy.

Other uses

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=right|quote=The most generous of people is the one who gives to those from whom he has no hope of return.|salign=right |source=— Husain ibn Ali{{cite web |title=Saying of Imam Hussain |url=https://aliimmam.com/tag/imam-hussain-whoishussian/page/2/ |website=POiSON WORLD |access-date=29 October 2018}}{{better source needed|date=July 2023}} }}

Generosity often encompasses acts of charity, in which people give without expecting anything in return. This can involve offering time, assets, or talents to assist those in need, such as during natural disasters, where people voluntarily contribute resources, goods, and money. The impact of generosity is most profound when it arises spontaneously rather than being directed by an organization.{{clarify|reason=profound to which individual, the recipient or the giver?|date=July 2023}}{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Christian |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199394906.001.0001 |title=The Paradox of Generosity |last2=Davidson |first2=Hilary |date=2014-09-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-939490-6 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199394906.001.0001}} People can experience joy and satisfaction when they positively affect someone's life through acts of generosity.

Generosity is a guiding principle for many registered charities, foundations, non-profit organizations, etc.

File:Pakistan President Mohammed Ayub Khan presents Mrs. Kennedy with a bay gelding as a gift, March 22, 1962 (cropped).jpg, the second president of Pakistan presenting Jackie Kennedy a gelding, 1962]]

Etymology

The modern English word generosity derives from the Latin word {{lang|la|generōsus}}, which means "of noble birth", which itself was passed down to English through the Old French word {{lang|fro|généreux}}. The Latin stem {{lang|la|gener–}} is the declensional stem of {{lang|la|genus}}, meaning "kin", "clan", "race", or "stock", with the root Indo-European meaning of {{lang|ine|gen}} being "to beget". The same root gives the words genesis, gentry, gender, genital, gentile, genealogy, and genius, among others.

Over the last five centuries in the English-speaking world, generosity has developed from being primarily the description of an ascribed status pertaining to the elite nobility to being an achieved mark of admirable personal quality and action capable of being exercised in theory by any person who had learned virtue and noble character.{{cite web|title=What is Generosity|website=Science of Generosity|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090319032448/http://generosityresearch.nd.edu/about/|url=https://generosityresearch.nd.edu/more-about-the-initiative/what-is-generosity/|archive-date=19 March 2009}}

File:Sharing Gifts (4497043378).jpg sharing gifts with children in Afghanistan, 2009]]

Most recorded English uses of the word generous up to and during the sixteenth century reflect an aristocratic sense of being of noble lineage or high birth. Being generous was literally a way of complying with nobility.

During the 17th century, the meaning and use of the word began to change. Generosity came increasingly to identify not literal family heritage but a nobility of spirit thought to be associated with high birth—that is, with various admirable qualities that could now vary from person to person, depending not on family history but on personal character. Generosity came to signify gallantry, courage, strength, richness, gentleness, and fairness. In addition, generous became used to describe fertile land, the strength of animal breeds, abundant provisions of food, the vibrancy of colors, the strength of liquor, and the potency of medicine.

During the 18th century, the meaning of generosity continued to evolve to denote the more specific, contemporary meaning of munificence, open-handedness, and liberality in the giving of money and possessions to others. This more specific meaning came to dominate English usage by the 19th century.

In religion

File:Flickr - The U.S. Army - www.Army.mil (177).jpg wrap Christmas gifts for soldiers stationed in or passing through Kuwait, 2008]]

In Buddhism, generosity is one of the Ten Perfections and is the antidote to the self-chosen poison called greed. Generosity is known as {{IAST|dāna}} in the Eastern religious scriptures.

In Islam, the Quran states that whatever one gives away generously, with the intention of pleasing God, He will replace. God knows what is in the hearts of men. Say: “Truly, my Lord enlarges the provision for whom He wills of His slaves, and also restricts it for him, and whatever you spend of anything (in God’s Cause), He will replace it. And He is the Best of providers.”{{cite Quran|34|39}}

In Christianity, in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul reports that Jesus said that giving is better than receiving,{{Bibleverse|Acts|20:35|NASB}} although the gospels do not record this as a saying of Jesus.Jerusalem Bible (1966), Footnote f at Acts 20:35 In his first letter to Timothy, Paul tells rich Christians that they must be "generous and willing to share",{{Bibleverse|1 Timothy|6:18}} and in his second letter to the Corinthians he states that "God loves a cheerful giver".{{Bibleverse|2 Corinthians|9:7}} Later Christian tradition {{vague|text=further developed the concept|date=July 2023}} of the virtue of charity.{{clarify|reason=In the Christian tradition, 'charity' has been a translation of 'caritas' (Latin) which was how the virtue of "love" was translated; so its connection to 'charity' as we use the word today needs to be better-explained.|date=July 2023}}

In philosophy

Immanuel Kant also contemplates generosity in a universal and uninterested form{{explain|date=July 2023}} in his categorical imperative.

Research and scholarship

Research associates generosity with empathy.{{non sequitur|reason=the rest of the paragraph concerns altruism and oxytocin, with no mention of empathy|date=July 2023}} Paul J. Zak and colleagues administered the peptide oxytocin or placebo was given to about 100 men who then they made several decisions regarding money. One scenario, the Dictator Game, was used to measure altruism by asking people to make a unilateral transfer of $10 they were given by the experimenters to a stranger in the lab; oxytocin had no effect on {{clarify|text=altruism|reason=is this the same as "generosity" in this context? if not, what is the difference?|date=July 2023}}. Another task, the Ultimatum Game, was used to measure generosity. In this game, one person was endowed with $10 and was asked to offer some split of it to another person in the lab, via computer. If the second person did not like the split, he could reject it (for example, if it was stingy) and both people would get zero. In a clever twist, the researchers told participants they would be randomly chosen to be either the person making the offer or the person responding to it. This required the person making the offer to take the other's perspective explicitly. Generosity was defined as an offer greater than the minimum amount needed for acceptance. Oxytocin increased generosity 80% compared to those on placebo. In addition, oxytocin was quantitatively twice as important in predicting generosity as was {{clarify|text=altruism|reason=what's the difference between generosity and altruism? how was altruism measured?|date=July 2023}}.{{cite journal|title=Oxytocin Increases Generosity in Humans|first1=Paul J.|last1=Zak|first2=Angela A.|last2=Stanton|first3=Sheila|last3=Ahmadi|date=7 November 2007|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=2|issue=11|pages=e1128|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0001128|pmid=17987115|pmc=2040517|bibcode=2007PLoSO...2.1128Z|doi-access=free}}

Research indicates that higher-income individuals are less generous than poorer{{clarify|reason="high-income" and "poorer" are not measuring the same dimension (income vs. wealth), so this is a puzzling comparison|date=July 2023}} individuals,{{cite journal|last1=Côté|first1=Stéphane|last2=House|first2=Julian|last3=Willer|first3=Robb|title=High economic inequality leads higher-income individuals to be less generous|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=11|number=52|date=November 2015|pages=15838–15843|doi=10.1073/pnas.1511536112|pmid=26598668|pmc=4702979|bibcode=2015PNAS..11215838C|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|title=Having less, giving more: The influence of social class on prosocial behavior|journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|volume=99|number=5|date=November 2010|pages=771–784|doi=10.1037/a0020092|last1=Piff|first1=Paul K.|last2=Kraus|first2=Michael W.|last3=Côté|first3=Stéphane|last4=Cheng|first4=Bonnie Hayden|last5=Keltner|first5=Dacher|pmid=20649364}} and that a perceived{{clarify|reason=perceived by whom?|date=July 2023}} higher{{Compared to?|date=July 2023}} economic inequality leads higher-income individuals to be less generous.

The science of generosity initiative at the University of Notre Dame{{cite web|url=https://generosityresearch.nd.edu/|title=Science of Generosity|website=University of Notre Dame|access-date=30 June 2017}} investigates the sources, origins, and causes of generosity; manifestations and expressions of generosity; and consequences of generosity for givers and receivers. Generosity for the purposes of this project is defined as the virtue of giving good things to others empathically and abundantly.

The impact of external circumstances on generosity was explored by Milan Tsverkova and Michael W. Macy.{{cite journal |last1=Tsvetkova |first1=Milena |last2=Macy |first2=Michael W. |title=The Social Contagion of Generosity |journal=PLOS ONE |date=13 February 2014 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=e87275 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0087275 |pmid=24551053 |pmc=3923723 |bibcode=2014PLoSO...987275T |doi-access=free }} Generosity exhibited a form of social contagion, influencing people's willingness to be generous. The study examined two methods of spreading generosity behavior: generalized reciprocity and the influence of observing others' generous actions. The findings indicate that these methods increase the frequency of generous behaviors. However, a bystander effect can also arise, leading to a decrease in the frequency of such behaviors.

Peer punishment influences cooperation in human groups. In one set of laboratory experiments, participant roles included punishers, non-punishers, and generous and selfish people. Generous people were considered more trustworthy by participants than selfish people, and punishers were considered less trustworthy than non-punishers.{{cite journal |last1=Przepiorka |first1=Wojtek |last2=Liebe |first2=Ulf |title=Generosity is a sign of trustworthiness—the punishment of selfishness is not |journal=Evolution and Human Behavior |date=July 2016 |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=255–262 |doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.12.003 |bibcode=2016EHumB..37..255P |hdl=1874/344110 |hdl-access=free }}

References

External links

[https://neuroeconomicstudies.org/ Center for Neuroeconomics Studies]
[https://www.shareable.net/ Shareable: News on Sharing]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060615220339/http://philosophy2.ucsd.edu/~rutherford/Leibniz/generos.htm On Generosity] (G.W. Leibniz)

Category:Philanthropy

Category:Social concepts

Category:Virtue

Category:Fruit of the Holy Spirit