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32 J. Value Inquiry 357 (1998)
Generosity of Spirit

handle is hein.journals/jrnlvi32 and id is 340 raw text is: LA The Journal of Value Inquiry 32: 357-368, 1998. 357 O © 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Generosity of Spirit JOSEPH KUPFER Department of Philosophy, Iowa State University, 402 Catt Hall, Ames, IA 50011-1306, USA 1. Early in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennett tells Mr. Wickham that for disinheriting him, Mr. Darcy should be publicly exposed. Wickham replies that he would not be the one to expose Darcy's dishonorable treatment of him, while I remember the father, I could never bring myself to disgrace the son.1 Because Elizabeth has yet to discover the perfidy of Wickham, Jane Austen's heroine is impressed with the morality of his avowed self-restraint. She says, I admire your generosity, Mr. Wickham.2 Mr. Wickham has given no one money or anything of economic value. What generosity does Elizabeth think he is exhibiting? I will clarify the na- ture of the generosity which is imputed to Wickham by locating it within an account of psychological giving, characterized here as generosity of spirit. It is a valuable form of generosity, largely obscured, at least from philosophical view, by Aristotle's influential analysis of generosity. Aristotle treats eco- nomic or material generosity as paradigmatic, and says: By 'material goods' we understand everything whose value is measured in money.3 As important as economic giving is, focusing on it has kept us from paying attention to generosity that involves personal endowment - thought, emotion, and character. Because these are dimensions of our personality or selves, I refer to the virtue in which they are incorporated as generosity of spirit. The term also calls attention to the manner in which truly generous people give, whether the giving is economic or psychological. In investigating generosity of spirit or personality, we may check our bear- ings with reference to those features of economic generosity which define the virtue in general. For example, from economic generosity we learn that gen- erosity is a species of benevolence. It demands that we give with the intention of benefiting the recipient, out of a concern for his or her welfare.4 If we give without this intention, then we are just going through the motions. However, benefiting another person is not sufficient for our giving to be generous.

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