Debts of Good Will and Interpersonal Justice :: Sociology Sociological Papers

Debts of Good bequeath and Interpersonal JusticeABSTRACT A debt of entire get out (utang na loob in Filipino) is incurred when a person becomes the beneficiary of significant assistance or party favor given by another. Usually, the beneficiary is in acute posit of the assistance given or favor granted. This provides an opportunity for the giving of inspection and repair to serve as a vehicle for the speakion of sympathy or concern. The debt could then be appreciated as one of good impart beca practise, by catering to another persons pressing need, the benef lay outor is able to express verificatory dispositions towards the beneficiary. It is not merely the receipt of the assistance or favor that puts the recipient in a position of indebtedness. The indebtedness is created by the benefactors kagandahang loob (good will). An act can be considered to convey kagandahang loob only if it is done out of kusang loob (roughly, destitute will) and can only be considered to have been done out of kusang loob if the cistron (1) is not acting under external compulsion, (2) is motivated by positive feelings (e.g. charity, love or sympathy) towards the beneficiary, and (3) is not motivated by the anticipation of reward. These conditions fee-tail debt-of-good-will relationships where the benefactor has no right to demand reciprocity but the beneficiary has a self-imposed obligation to repay kagandahang loob with kagandahang loob. Debts of good will argon about some forms of justice. But we should not reduce all smatter about debts of good will to talk about justice. Debts of gratitude are, in general, incurred by people who receive help or favors from others. But to say that a person has a debt of gratitude is not merely to say that he should be thankful for the assistance given. The indebtedness concerned is not confined to existent benefits received. In recognizing a debt of gratitude, one also recognizes the good will manifested by the benefactor in providing a ssistance or granting a favor. For this reason, this paper refers to debts of good will instead of debts of gratitude. The contention is that the former terminology focuses attention on important features of the concept that the words debt of gratitude fail to capture. Another reason for the use of the preferred term in this paper is that the equivalent of good will in the Filipino language kagandahang loob has an important significance in link ethical theory.