One ought not to be selfish

Everybody would agree on this, but how to integrate it into the standard economic model, I yet do not know. And even that is only the first step. The point is to give one a tool to become less selfish, that is love, that is Jesus. Two things I need to do is, to show that Christians love more and to make a model that takes into account that one ought not to be selfish. There is a model for an altruist and for the egotist, so what I am looking for should be possible to construct or already existent.

Yours,
Jaakko

Maon aate

"En ole samaa mieltä sen käsityksen kanssa, jonka mukaan ollakseen moraalisia ihmisen tekojen motiivina on oltava toisten ihmisten hyödyttäminen. Moraalisuutta ei tarvitse määritellä suhteessa toisiin... Minun kaltaiseni ihmiset haluavat... tyydyttää omat toiveemme kokonaan, ja niin tehdessämme meidän moraalikoodimme ovat automaattisesti kaikkein korkeimmat. Tietenkin maailmassa on ihmisiä ja esineitä, mutta ne kaikki ovat siellä vain minua varten."

Mao Zedong, Mao Zedong zaoqi wengao (Mao Zedongin varhaiset käsikirjoitukset), kesäk. 1912 - marrask. 1920, Kiinan kommunistisen puolueen arkistotutkimusvirasto, toim., Hunan chubanshe, Changsha, 1990 s. 147-148

Järkyttävää!

Talousaate

- Ei, ei lainkaan ylimalkaista: Jos minulle esimerkiksi on tähän asti sanottu: "Rakasta lähimmäistäsi" ja minä rakastin, niin mikä siitä oli seurauksena? jatkoi Pjotr Petrovits ehkäpä liiankin hätäisesti.

- Seurauksena oli että minä repäisin takkini kahtia, annoin toisen puoliskon lähimmäiselleni, ja me jäimme molemmat puolittain alastomiksi, tai niinkuin venäläinen sanoo: "Lähde ajamaan monta jänistä yhtä aikaa, niin et saa ainoatakaan." Tiede sitävastoin sanoo, että rakasta ennenkaikkea itseäsi, sillä kaikki maailmassa perustuu henkilökohtaiseen eduntavoitteluun. On rakastettava vain itseään, ja niin asiasi tulevat kunnolla hoidetuiksi ja takkisi pysyy eheänä. Talousoppi puolestaan lisää, että mitä enemmän yhteiskunnassa on hyvin järjestettyjä yksityistalouksia, toisin sanoen eheitä takkeja, sitä lujemmalla perustalla se lepää ja sitä paremmin järjestyy yhteinen asia. Näin ollen: kun toimin yksinomaan itseäni varten, niin siten toimin kaikkien hyväksi ja johdatan asioita siihen suuntaan, että lähimmäisenikin saa enemmän kuin puolet takista, eikä suinkaan yksityisen hyväntekeväisyyden vaan yleisen edistyksen avulla. Ajatus on yksinkertainen, mutta valitettavasti se haltioituneisuuden ja haaveellisuuden varjossa varjossa ei ole pitkään aikaan päässyt kohoamaan esille. Kuitenkin tuntuu siltä ettei tarvita kovinkaan paljon terävä-älyisyyttä, jotta oivallettaisiin...

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- ... niin miten on tämän yhteiskunnan sivistyneen osan moraalinen rappio selitettävissä?

- Mistä te oikein olette huolissanne? sekaantui Raskolnikov äkkiä keskusteluun.

- Sehän on teidän oman teorianne mukaista!

- Kuinka niin minun teoriani!

- Mikäli teette johtopäätökset siitä mitä äsken saarnasitte, niin tuloksena on, että ihmisiä voidaan tappaa.

- Varjelkoon, huudahti Luzin.

- Ei, ei se niin ole! sanoi Zosimov

Raskolnikov makasi kalpeana ja hengitti raskaasti ylähuuli värähdellen.

- Kaikella on rajansa, jatkoi Luzin kopeasti.

- Talousaate ei ole yllytystä murhaan, jos vain otaksutaan...

F.M. Dostojevski, Rikos ja rangaistus, Toinen osa, Kappale 5

Need For More

I do not mean for a moment that we ought not to think, and think hard, about improvements in our social and economic system. What I do mean is that all that thinking will be mere moonshine unless we realise that nothing but the courage and unselfishness of individuals...

C.S. Lewis

About MacDonald's Model

Could it be that the economy would be a big wave of giftgiving. Not only, perhaps. Where is the value in giftgiving. In altruistic giftgiving I mean, not bribing. Well, virtue is an end itself, but to give something useless wouldn't be a virtue, would it? No. But how are those loving saints to know better than the person himself what he needs, what makes him happy. Well, this is what they specialise in. They will try their best to know. And when they do give the gift they receive utility out of what, out of the act of virtue, an increase in other person's utility, not of the the absolute, total, static value of utility of the other. How do the accidental misfortune, that are not caused by that person, decreases in utility of another person affect the utility of that person. Does it affect it at all. Knowing that all is for the best of those who love the Lord.

About MacDonald's Model

It seems that in MacDonald's model individual's would only do actions that offer a supernormal profit. That is they do have a motivation, that is entrepreneuship. That is for entrepreneurship or through entrepreneurship to do something supernormally good. Otherwise they would refrain.

About Conservatives

"Attendance and pledging behaviors are often engendered by an individual’s beliefs about theology and reciprocity. Indeed, scholars have determined that certain mindsets can either encourage or discourage religious giving. For example, there is considerable evidence linking theological conservatism with philanthropy generally (Brooks 2006) and religious giving specifically (Iannaccone 1994; Chaves 2004). Hoge (1994) cites numerous studies correlating religious orthodoxy with increased religious giving (e.g., Greeley, McCourt, and McCready 1976; Hoge and Polk, 1980; Sullivan, 1985) and generally finds that holding conservative perspectives on social issues intensifies philanthropic behavior. Wilmer (1995: 107-109) enumerates specific conservative beliefs germane to evangelical generosity, including “earnest concern for the lost souls of the world,” “desire to preserve the nation” from irretrievably falling into sin, literal “response to biblical stewardship teaching,” and “taking the Bible’s instructions about possessions seriously.” To be fair, not all conservative beliefs are conducive to charity—such as the evangelical tendency to subordinate structural concerns to more personal problems and relationships. However, as Noll (2007: 23) points out, “whatever weakness comes from such a strong concentration on personal faith is balanced by energy, action, and at least the potential of wise generosity arising from the same source.” As such, it is not surprising that Regnerus, Smith, and Sikkink (1998: 486) found that among respondents of the 1996 Religious Identity and Influence Survey, theological conservatives donated more than liberals to organizations that helped “the poor and needy.” Using this same survey, Smith (1998: 39) also concluded that “evangelicals were the most likely to give money to help spread the Gospel,” and “along with fundamentalists, the most likely to give a lot of money to Christian political organizations or candidates.” Wilmer (1995: 105) comes to a similar conclusion, noting that “Evangelicals give, as a percentage of their income, about two times more than mainline Protestants, almost three times more than Roman Catholics, and at least four times more than the general population.” Lunn et al. (2001: 765) qualify this assertion somewhat, observing that in their study, “conservative Presbyterians gave more in total, and give more to the local church and to non-Presbyterian religious organizations than did more liberal Presbyterians,” but they gave less to secular charities than their liberal counterparts. Alternately, Brooks (2006: 47) provides evidence that “religious conservatives are more likely to give to secular charities than the overall population.” Although this finding merits further consideration, our primary focus is on explicitly religious giving, and in this regard, conservatives seem to have an edge. Nevertheless, the majority of the evidence seems to support linking conservatism and secular giving as well, although there is less consensus for this conclusion.

The link between conservatism and religious giving transcends the American context, encompassing Canada and Western Europe. In fact, Reitsma et al. (2006: 357) found that “dogmatic conviction”—operationalized in terms of high Christology—was salient in explaining giving to impoverished counties by believers throughout Western Europe, except in Portugal."

Ryan Lincoln, Christopher A. Morrissey, Peter Mundey (2008), Religious Giving: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature, Science of Generosity