Understanding Philanthropy: Its Meaning and Mission

3. Because Things Go Wrong: Philanthropy as a Response to the Human Problematic

3 Because Things Go Wrong: Philanthropy as a Response to the Human Problematic Philanthropy appears in some form in all cultures and civilizations and through all recorded history. It seems there is something about the world, and about humans in this world, that calls philanthropy into being. Philanthropy is a response. But to what? What is it about the world that causes us to respond philanthropically, that makes philanthropy seem to be a reasonable response? The purpose of this chapter is to begin to establish the larger context for philanthropy, the general condition of the world—what we will call the human problematic—to which philanthropy is a response. We follow the previous chapter’s summary of our broad conception of philanthropy with an exploration of how that conception fits into the larger world and how it relates to some fundamental questions about humans. We believe understanding these issues is essential to understanding why philanthropy exists —why it emerges as a human response to the human condition in the world. While we will be making some bold claims about elementary features of the human condition and human nature, this chapter is not so much an exercise in presenting universal knowledge as an exercise in conceptual generalization and practical philosophy. Like much of this book, it consid- ers fundamental characteristics and causes of voluntary action for the public good in human societies, but tries not to lose sight of the fact that this philanthropic action is always expressed in ways that are patterned by culture and history. Philanthropy is found everywhere as a response to inevitabilities of the human condition, yes, but what is defined as an appropriate or conventional philanthropic response is different in Elizabethan England than in Maoist China. The Human Problematic Like it or not, we humans face difficult problems. This means there are questions that humans everywhere and always must attempt to answer. These fundamental problems and questions are the inevitable reality we call the human problematic. The human problematic is defined by two other basic realities: the first is the human condition; the second is human nature. It is this human problematic that sets the context for why philanthropy exists in the world. Philanthropy exists because of two truths about the human condition: things often go wrong, and things could always be better. First, things often go wrong. Systems fail. Natural and human, social and political, economic and biological systems fail, and as a consequence humans suffer. As we grow up, we all learn by experience as well as by observation that in many situations individuals and societies are overwhelmed by circumstances either natural or man-made, that we sometimes can’t cope without help. It is through no lack of will or desire or moral fiber that Ethiopians die of starvation. It is through no ethnic flaw or cultural decay that people find themselves swept away by a tsunami. We are all vulnerable to suffering, even if some of us are more vulnerable to certain types of suffering than others. Philanthropy is an act of response to this inevitable suffering; we shouldn’t forget there are other possible responses. Also, we shouldn’t forget that sometimes what is going “wrong” is disputed or that the definition of wrong varies across cultures, groups, and times. Whether husbands routinely beating their wives is an example of something going wrong or not depends on when and where and whom you ask, and this will then influence whether philanthropy or any other intervention is called for. In fact, philanthropic action itself—the exercise of the moral imagination —is often part of the process of declaring which “conditions” are defined as “problems.” What we do to make things better reveals what we consider to be going wrong. Second, things could always be better. That is, humans can imagine ways in which life could be more agreeable, comfortable, congenial, pleasant, Because Things Go Wrong / 63 fruitful, productive, profitable, etc. Philanthropy is an expression of this human moral imagination that seeks to improve the quality of life. (In the next chapter, we will see how this belief that things can be made better through philanthropy fits with a philosophy we call “meliorism.”) Of course, “could always be” does not necessarily imply “will always be.” Philanthropy is about trying to make things better, sometimes in the face of dauntingly unfavorable odds. These two features of the human condition set the stage...