Thursday, February 4, 2010

Utilitarian. Period.

A major chunk of the credit for the success of this year’s Anand Run goes to a local college student, Shakeel (who incidentally had exams a day after the run). From inviting colleges and propagandizing to being a volunteer, Shakeel helped selflessly. When apprehensions crept about whether the run would materialize, his words were ‘We’ll do what we can.’
Costs Benefit Analysis:
Cost: A week’s preparation time for his upcoming exams
Benefit: Absolutely none whatsoever I can think of
He probably didn’t count the cost, but I don’t think it even mattered to him whether his actions were increasing the average benefit. He just helped. Now, what category do we place such ‘utalitarians’ under?

5 comments:

Ritesh Kewlani(p30034) said...

Shakeel seems to be a selfless utilitarian. The benefits he derived from contributing in the anand run might not be in terms of economic or social benefits. Rather the satisfaction derived from doing a productive and self-driven work is immense. And that is what drives many Irman's in the rural sector.

Uday Kr. said...

I doubt whether he is a selfless utilitarian. Benefits can't always be counted in monetary terms nor in such a short time. I am counting his benefits:-
1. earned a rapo among his local youths.
2. earned social capital.
3. prided himself on delivering what he had promised.
However, these benefits, we materialistic world, view as noble and then bracket it under self-actualization or selfless utilitarian.

richa bhalotia(p30033) said...

many a times there lies some extra rational motives in the act of cooperation. some times some people do the job in need of recognizition. and some people just do for the sake of common good .they are in the level of other centered cooperation.Shakeel also falls in this category.he can be categorized in the category of self utilitarian.

Arpit Shah said...

I would not like to comment on what category does Shakeel belong to until I know of his true motives.

Counting his benefits (by mere assumptions)can be very disgracing & insulting on part of Shakeel if his intentions were not so.

All I know is, at a time when we were short of participants as well as volunteers, he lent his helping hand for both, and we should be thankful to him for that.

V S Khokhar said...

Well I think personal satisfaction of having done something worthwhile is a major push for many people. Its all about doing something in what you believe in. Passion for something makes one go that extra mile. Its like people saying to Thomas Edison to quit on his bulb idea and he carried on because he had something to prove to himself rather than to the world...