In its purest form, giving is intentionally impoverishing yourself in order to enrich another (the terms impoverish, enrich, and another can be as defined as narrowly or as broadly as you’d like). A person who makes some gesture for the sole purpose of self-elevation is not actually giving, no matter how generous the gesture may appear to casual observers. The most effective campaigns I’ve seen in the charitable giving domain emphasize positive outcomes for others rather than appealing to a donor’s vanity or encouraging narcissism.
Ah, thanks for clarifying. So it’s a matter of purity of motivations. As a consequentialist I am mainly concerned with the outcome of people caring about effective giving and therefore giving to effective, evidence-based charities, and if getting them to desire self-elevation will motivate donors, then I’m happy to use that to achieve the outcome.
In its purest form, giving is intentionally impoverishing yourself in order to enrich another (the terms impoverish, enrich, and another can be as defined as narrowly or as broadly as you’d like). A person who makes some gesture for the sole purpose of self-elevation is not actually giving, no matter how generous the gesture may appear to casual observers. The most effective campaigns I’ve seen in the charitable giving domain emphasize positive outcomes for others rather than appealing to a donor’s vanity or encouraging narcissism.
Ah, thanks for clarifying. So it’s a matter of purity of motivations. As a consequentialist I am mainly concerned with the outcome of people caring about effective giving and therefore giving to effective, evidence-based charities, and if getting them to desire self-elevation will motivate donors, then I’m happy to use that to achieve the outcome.