Generosity

Generosity (also called largess) is the virtue of not being tied down by concerns about one's possessions.[1] Often it means to provide help to others by giving them an (usually precious) item without thinking twice.

Other uses

It is sometimes used in the meaning of charity, (the virtue of giving without expecting anything in return. It can involve offering time, assets or talents to aid someone in need).

In times of natural disaster, relief efforts are frequently provided, voluntarily, by individuals or groups acting unilaterally in making gifts of time, resources, goods, money, etc.

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

Generosity can also be spending time, money, or labor for others without being rewarded in return.

Although the term generosity often goes hand-in-hand with charity, many people in the public's eye want recognition for their good deeds. Donations are needed to support organizations and committees, however, generosity should not be limited to times of great need such as natural disasters and extreme situations.

Generosity is not solely based on one's economic status, but instead, includes the individual's pure intentions of looking out for society's common good and giving from the heart. Generosity should reflect the individual's passion for helping others.

Etymology

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

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. To be generous was literally a way of complying with nobility.

During the 17th century, however, 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 whether a person actually possessed the qualities. In this way generosity increasingly came in the 17th century to signify a variety of traits of character and action historically associated (whether accurately or not) with the ideals of actual nobility: gallantry, courage, strength, richness, gentleness, and fairness. In addition to describing these diverse human qualities, generous became a word during this period used to describe fertile land, the strength of animal breeds, abundant provisions of food, vibrancy of colors, the strength of liquor, and the potency of medicine.

Then, during the 18th century, the meaning of generosity continued to evolve in directions denoting 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. Over the last five centuries in the English speaking world, generosity 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 (Smith 2009).

In religions

In Buddhism, generosity is one of the Ten Perfections and is the antidote to the self-chosen poison called greed.

Generosity is known as charity in the Bible, and daan in the Eastern religious scriptures.

In Islam Quran states that whatever one gives away generously, with the intention of pleasing God,, He will replace it. 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 whatsoever you spend of anything (in God’s Cause), He will replace it. And He is the Best of providers.” (Quran 34:39)

In Christianity, the Book of Acts states that Jesus said that giving is better than receiving (Acts 20:35).

In knowledge

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
— KJV: 1 Corinthians 13:2
And this I pray, that your charity may more and more abound in knowledge, and in all understanding
— Douay-Rheims: Philippians 1:9[2]
my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children."
— Hosea 4:6
अपूर्व: कोपि कोशोयं विद्यते तव भारति |
व्ययतो वॄद्धिम् आयाति क्षयम् आयाति संचयात् ||
Prophet Muhammad also said: "Whoever is asked about a knowledge that he knows about and then hides it and keeps it away, he will be bridled on the day of judgement with a bridle of fire."[6]

Research and scholarship

Research has shown that generosity is associated with empathy. In this research, by Paul J. Zak and colleagues and published in Public Library of Science ONE,[7] the peptide oxytocin or placebo was given to about 100 men and then they made several decisions regarding money. One, 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 altruism.

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, all done by 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 altruism.[8]

Science of generosity

The science of generosity initiative at the University of Notre Dame[9] is investigating the sources, origins, and causes of generosity; manifestations and expressions of generosity; and consequences of generosity for both the givers and receivers involved. Generosity for the purposes of this project is defined as the virtue of giving good things to others freely and abundantly.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Michael Pakaluk, Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: An Introduction, 2005, p. 173 explains the translation difficulties and names generosity as the least bad translation of Greek eleutheriotes (Google Books)
  2. ↑ "Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible, Philippians Chapter 1". DRBO.org. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  3. ↑ "विद्या - Vidya (knowledge)". www.Sanskrit.us. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  4. ↑ "About". Vidyadaan.in. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  5. ↑ Sunan Tirmidhi Tradition:4159, Sunan Ibn Majah Tradition:9784, Ibid Tradition:9785, Mishkat al-Masabih Tradition:216
  6. ↑ Ahmad, Abu Dawood, and Al-Tirmidhi
  7. ↑ "PLOS ONE: accelerating the publication of peer-reviewed science". www.PLOSONE.org. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Zak, Paul J.; Stanton, Angela A.; Ahmadi, Sheila (7 November 2007). "Oxytocin Increases Generosity in Humans". PLOS ONE. 2 (11): e1128. PMC 2040517 Freely accessible. PMID 17987115. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001128. Retrieved 30 June 2017 – via PLoS Journals.
  9. ↑ Dame, RKD // AgencyND // University of Notre. "Science of Generosity // University of Notre Dame". GenerosityResearch.nd.edu. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
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