Gratitude, Rights, and Moral Standouts
Many maintain that if a beneficiary has a right to a benefit provided by his benefactor, then the former cannot owe the latter gratitude for that benefit. In this paper I argue against that view. I provide examples in which benefactors provide others with benefits to which they have a right even tho...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Science + Business Media B. V
[2017]
|
| In: |
Ethical theory and moral practice
Year: 2017, Volume: 20, Issue: 2, Pages: 279-293 |
| RelBib Classification: | NCB Personal ethics VA Philosophy |
| Further subjects: | B
Gratitude
B Rights B Obligation B Servility B Moral standouts |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Many maintain that if a beneficiary has a right to a benefit provided by his benefactor, then the former cannot owe the latter gratitude for that benefit. In this paper I argue against that view. I provide examples in which benefactors provide others with benefits to which they have a right even though most others are denying them that right. These benefactors are moral standouts; they do what is right when most similarly situated agents fail to do so. I then spell out some of the features of these benefactors actions that make them worthy of gratitude. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1572-8447 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Ethical theory and moral practice
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s10677-016-9761-2 |