book "The Possibility of Altruism"
E421689
"The Possibility of Altruism" is a philosophical work by Thomas Nagel that argues for the rational basis of genuine moral concern for others.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| book "The Possibility of Altruism" canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4231335 — 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.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: book "The Possibility of Altruism" Context triple: [Thomas Nagel, knownFor, book "The Possibility of Altruism"]
-
A.
The Most Good You Can Do
The Most Good You Can Do is a book by philosopher Peter Singer that presents and defends the principles of effective altruism, urging readers to use their resources to help others as much as possible.
-
B.
Essays to Do Good
Essays to Do Good is a 1710 collection of moral and religious essays by Puritan minister Cotton Mather that urges Christians to engage in practical benevolence and social reform.
-
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 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.
-
E.
"The Will to Meaning"
"The Will to Meaning" is a psychological and philosophical work by Viktor Frankl that further develops his logotherapy theory, emphasizing humanity’s search for purpose as the central motivational force in life.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: book "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 genuine moral concern for others.
-
A.
The Most Good You Can Do
The Most Good You Can Do is a book by philosopher Peter Singer that presents and defends the principles of effective altruism, urging readers to use their resources to help others as much as possible.
-
B.
Essays to Do Good
Essays to Do Good is a 1710 collection of moral and religious essays by Puritan minister Cotton Mather that urges Christians to engage in practical benevolence and social reform.
-
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 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.
-
E.
"The Will to Meaning"
"The Will to Meaning" is a psychological and philosophical work by Viktor Frankl that further develops his logotherapy theory, emphasizing humanity’s search for purpose as the central motivational force in life.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
philosophical work ⓘ |
| academicDiscipline |
ethics
ⓘ
moral psychology ⓘ philosophy ⓘ |
| addressesPosition |
psychological egoism
ⓘ
rational egoism ⓘ subjectivist theories of reasons ⓘ |
| author | Thomas Nagel ⓘ |
| centralClaim |
Agents can have objective reasons to act for the sake of others
ⓘ
Altruistic reasons can be grounded in the structure of practical reason ⓘ Moral reasons are not reducible to self-interest ⓘ There is a rational basis for genuine moral concern for others ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| genre |
analytic philosophy
ⓘ
ethics ⓘ moral philosophy ⓘ |
| hasPart |
analysis of prudential and moral reasons
ⓘ
critique of egoistic theories of motivation ⓘ discussion of the structure of practical reasoning ⓘ |
| hasSubject |
altruism
ⓘ
egoism ⓘ ethics of concern for others ⓘ impartiality ⓘ moral motivation ⓘ moral psychology ⓘ practical reason ⓘ prudence ⓘ rationality ⓘ reasons for action ⓘ |
| influenced |
Thomas Nagel's later work "Mortal Questions"
ⓘ
linked to:
book "Mortal Questions"
Thomas Nagel's later work "The View From Nowhere" ⓘ
linked to:
Thomas Nagel
contemporary debates on moral motivation ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Henry Sidgwick
ⓘ
Immanuel Kant ⓘ R. M. Hare ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| notableFor |
early influential contribution to contemporary moral philosophy
ⓘ
systematic defense of altruistic reasons within rational choice ⓘ |
| philosophicalIssue |
the nature of reasons for action
ⓘ
the objectivity of moral reasons ⓘ the rationality of altruistic concern ⓘ the relation between prudence and morality ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | analytic ethics ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1970 ⓘ |
| publisher | Oxford University Press ⓘ |
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.
Instruction
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.
Input
Subject: book "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 genuine moral concern for others.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.