The Reasons for Charity
The motivations for doing good is a subject which has received a fair amount of analysis over the past few centuries of philosophical thought. We shall spare you the pedantry of the details of this argument, and let it suffice to say that there seems to be an intractable problem for those who have fun while doing good deeds. We hear your gasps of horror. Yes, your initial response might be that it is inconceivable that it is wrong to derive pleasure from doing good deeds. But we assure you that, a closer look at the details of this discussion will have you wavering about this. At least for a little while.
The point is that on Tuesday the Corner Post hosted and sponsored lunch for a group of children from a local voluntary day care centre. It was a feast of our famous hamburgers, chips and ice cream with hot chocolate sauce. Adam Robinson, owner of and chef at the Corner Post, would like to think that he performed a good deed. Being prone to self-congratulatory behaviour (inspired by a healthy arrogance and excellent voice) he was not amused at remembering the constraints placed on the moral goodness of this action, by the fact that he had fun feeding these sweet children.
Next year he will try not have fun.
In the meantime it is our Moral Duty to offer you the following this week:
- Onion, cider and rosemary soup
- Tiger prawn and apple cocktail
- Rocket, baked tomato and olive salad with shaved parmesan
- Potato gnocchi with oyster mushrooms, parsley and garlic
- Grilled quail with semolina gnocchi, shitake mushrooms and sage
- Free-range chicken schnitzel with roast pepper and couscous salad
- Fillet of Norwegian salmon with salad nicoise
- Char-grilled Greenfields steak with chips and bearnaise
- Christmas pudding ice cream or pineapple sorbet
- Plum and almond tart with vanilla ice cream
- Hot chocolate fondant with white chocolate ice-cream
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