Philanthropy or giving as a handed happiness

If equitable happiness cannot be achieved through state redistribution, how then? Is there a form of redistribution that can bring happiness to the recipient without taking happiness away from the giver? The analysis provided led to the conclusion that there is, in the form of philanthropy. By giving, the philanthropists can both bring happiness to others and experience happiness themselves. Conditions under which this goal can be pursued were discussed and proportionality problems that arise when attempting to generate an appropriate understanding of philanthropy were highlighted. This was followed by a discussion of the most important objections raised against philanthropy, including the undersupply objection and the discrimination objection. Both prove to be untenable. A more detailed consideration of the first objection in particular, as well as of its erroneous assumption that the main cause of undersupply is a classic prisoners’ dilemma, is provided. It has been shown that the undersupply objection is only justified to a certain extent in crisis situations. Otherwise, in addition to the relevant literature on donor behaviour and donation volumes, the historical, economic-theoretical, and motivational arguments presented also speak against the undersupply objection and in favour of better tax and legal conditions for monetary, material, and time donations.