What is the moral significance to the below quote?

Question

"If you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, and you will feed him for a lifetime."

Peace and Love

Answer 1

If you give someone a welfare check every month you have a lazy person. If you give someone a paycheck for services performed you have the basis of an economy.

Answer 2

I think that it is instructive, which is distinguished from moral or immoral. That is, it is practical.

For it to be an issue of morality, it would have to apply in all cases. Like, you can very well teach a person to fish in a landlocked place where this person has to walk 20 hours each way to a fishing hole, and yet he will not necessarily eat for a lifetime as a result. And his decision not to implement your teaching on a consistent basis would be neither moral nor immoral, just impractical.

Moreover, there are people born without limbs, and so teaching them to fish would be complex--and their choosing not to fish once you tried to teach them would probably not be out of any moral deficiency.

And if you were the teacher, you would be passing on practical skills, not moral truths.

Answer 3

What is the moral significance to the below quote?
***"If you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you will feed him for a lifetime."***

It is an exquisitely structured quote that says
simply, charity is a good thing however self sufficiency is to be pursued and is preferred.

Answer 4

"If you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a day.

---> Well, it depends on the size of the fish...

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Teach a man to fish, and you will feed him for a lifetime."

---> No: you won't feed him. He will feed himself.

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Moral meaning? Most of statements are intrinsicly incoherent, in spite of their charming reflects.

Answer 5

The act of giving makes a being dependent for a day the act of teaching makes a being independent for a lifetime.

The moral significance is that knowledge is more valueable than material gifts.

Answer 6

First of, it says absolutely nothing about creating laziness. Don't read your own preconceptions into these words.

I think in terms of moral significance it goes even beyond education. The quote challenges us to help people in ways that make permanent, positive changes in their abilities to help themselves.

I also believe that it calls on us to NOT act in ways that harm people's abilities to meet their own needs. That means not stealing their water rights for the profits of multinational corporations or forcing countries to open up their economies to exploitation for the sake of 'debt relief' or 'foreign aid packages' -- teach the man to fish, but don't charge him triple rates to rent the pole and force him to sell the catch to you for pennies.

Answer 7

"Charity is injurious unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it."
John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
(07/08/1839 – 05/23/1937)
US gazillionaire

It says that it is better to teach someone to become self- sufficient to care for himself than to simply continue to give handouts that will make him lazy and dependant on those free gifts. It's the reason there are always changes and reforms to welfare systems. Lazy spoiled kids with no responsibilty are another good example of this principle.

Answer 8

Only have of it is taught in school today!

Look at New Orleans!
Just give them a fish and they will vote for you for ever!

Answer 9

Every person needs eventually to help themselves. By giving them something, they will remain dependent on you or society. By giving them a skill, they will become self sufficient and be independent.

Answer 10

Knowledge enables a person to rely on his own resources instead of depending on other people all his life to supply all his needs. We can, and should help those who cannot help themself, but to just keep handing them whatever they need instead of teaching them to become self-sufficient is as much a disservice to them as ignoring them.