A Critique of Charitable Consciousness

Abstract

Despite a legion of criticisms from frustrated and reflective practitioners of humanitarian aid working in Africa and elsewhere, the fundamental problems surrounding NGO aid work persist; a critical mass of westerners are insufficiently receptive to these voices. I will demonstrate that this lack of receptivity is due to a set of implicit and explicit ideological commitments that comprise what I call ‘Charitable Consciousness.’ In this project I will describe the history of humanitarianism in the west, the Hegelian perspective with which to understand this history, and nature and structure of Charitable Consciousness. I will uncover the consequences of inhabiting this ideology and close with suggestions on how to confront and transform this perspective so as to encourage more productive aid work in the Global South.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,343

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

  • Only published works are available at libraries.

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-08-24

Downloads
11 (#1,459,590)

6 months
5 (#702,808)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Regarding the pain of others.Susan Sontag - 2003 - Diogène 201 (1):127-.
Empire.Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri - 2000 - Science and Society 67 (3):361-364.
What is a "shape of spirit"?Terry PInkard - 2008 - In Dean Moyar & Michael Quante, Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit: A Critical Guide. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 112--129.
Was eighteenth‐century sentimentalism unprecedented?Andrew S. Cunningham - 1998 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 6 (3):381 – 396.

Add more references