While it is possible for intelligence to increase the range of benevolent impulse, and thus prompt a human being to consider the needs and rights of other than those to whom he is bound by organic and physical relationship, there are definite limits in the capacity of ordinary mortals which makes it impossible for them to grant to others what they claim for themselves.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Intelligence can help us care for strangers, but human limits prevent us from treating others as well as we treat ourselves.
- In plain terms
- We can think about others but we rarely treat them as well as we treat ourselves.
- What can you take from it?
- Human limits restrict how far our benevolence can extend.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How far should you care?
- What limits your generosity?
Another view
Some people can extend benevolence further than others.
More from Reinhold Niebuhr
The measure of our rationality determines the degree of vividness with which we appreciate the needs of other life, the extent to which we become conscious of …
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