"The Possibility of Altruism"
E421695
"The Possibility of Altruism" is a philosophical work by Thomas Nagel that argues for the rational basis of genuinely altruistic motivation against egoistic theories of practical reason.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| "The Possibility of Altruism" canonical | 1 |
| The Possibility of Altruism | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4231359 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
Target entity: "The Possibility of Altruism" Context triple: [Thomas Nagel, hasWork, "The Possibility of Altruism"]
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A.
Famine, Affluence, and Morality
Famine, Affluence, and Morality is a highly influential 1972 essay by philosopher Peter Singer that argues affluent individuals have a strong moral obligation to prevent suffering and death from poverty when they can do so at relatively little cost to themselves.
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B.
The Elements of Morality
The Elements of Morality is a 19th-century philosophical treatise by William Whewell that systematically explores ethical theory, moral duties, and the foundations of human conduct.
-
C.
On the Basis of Morality
On the Basis of Morality is a philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer in which he argues that genuine ethics is grounded in compassion rather than rational duty or self-interest.
-
D.
The Science of Ethics
The Science of Ethics is a major 19th-century philosophical work by Leslie Stephen that systematically examines moral philosophy and the foundations of ethical theory.
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E.
The Fragility of Goodness
The Fragility of Goodness is a philosophical work by Martha Nussbaum that explores how human vulnerability, luck, and moral conflict shape the pursuit of a good life, especially through readings of ancient Greek literature and philosophy.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
Target entity: "The Possibility of Altruism" Target entity description: "The Possibility of Altruism" is a philosophical work by Thomas Nagel that argues for the rational basis of genuinely altruistic motivation against egoistic theories of practical reason.
-
A.
Famine, Affluence, and Morality
Famine, Affluence, and Morality is a highly influential 1972 essay by philosopher Peter Singer that argues affluent individuals have a strong moral obligation to prevent suffering and death from poverty when they can do so at relatively little cost to themselves.
-
B.
The Elements of Morality
The Elements of Morality is a 19th-century philosophical treatise by William Whewell that systematically explores ethical theory, moral duties, and the foundations of human conduct.
-
C.
On the Basis of Morality
On the Basis of Morality is a philosophical treatise by Arthur Schopenhauer in which he argues that genuine ethics is grounded in compassion rather than rational duty or self-interest.
-
D.
The Science of Ethics
The Science of Ethics is a major 19th-century philosophical work by Leslie Stephen that systematically examines moral philosophy and the foundations of ethical theory.
-
E.
The Fragility of Goodness
The Fragility of Goodness is a philosophical work by Martha Nussbaum that explores how human vulnerability, luck, and moral conflict shape the pursuit of a good life, especially through readings of ancient Greek literature and philosophy.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
non-fiction book
ⓘ
philosophical book ⓘ work of moral philosophy ⓘ |
| academicField | philosophy ⓘ |
| arguesAgainst |
egoistic theories of practical reason
ⓘ
ethical egoism ⓘ psychological egoism ⓘ |
| arguesFor |
objectivity of reasons for action
ⓘ
rational basis of altruistic motivation ⓘ |
| author | Thomas Nagel NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| genre |
ethics
ⓘ
moral philosophy ⓘ philosophy of action ⓘ |
| hasAuthorAcademicAffiliation |
New York University
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Princeton University ONNED1 ⓘ |
| hasForm | monograph ⓘ |
| hasKeyConcept |
agent-neutral reasons
ⓘ
agent-relative reasons ⓘ practical identity ⓘ rational requirements of consistency ⓘ |
| hasPhilosophicalTradition | analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| influenced |
contemporary debates on moral motivation
ⓘ
contemporary debates on practical reason ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Henry Sidgwick
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Immanuel Kant ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
altruism
ⓘ
egoism ⓘ moral motivation ⓘ practical reason ⓘ rationality ⓘ |
| notableFor |
critique of egoistic accounts of reasons
ⓘ
defense of altruism as rational ⓘ |
| philosophicalDiscipline |
ethics
ⓘ
metaethics ⓘ philosophy of action ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1970 ⓘ |
| publisher | Oxford University Press ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
Equality and Partiality
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Mortal Questions NERFINISHED ⓘ The View From Nowhere NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| targetAudience |
advanced students of philosophy
ⓘ
professional philosophers ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Subject: "The Possibility of Altruism" Description of subject: "The Possibility of Altruism" is a philosophical work by Thomas Nagel that argues for the rational basis of genuinely altruistic motivation against egoistic theories of practical reason.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.