Does a good deed count if it costs nothing?
EthicsComments
signing a petition takes time and attention, which are finite resources.
Do you think the value of that small amount of attention changes depending on who is receiving it? Maybe for some people, that tiny bit of effort feels like a lot.
This touches on the concept of supererogatory acts, which are actions that are good to do but not morally required. If we only value sacrifice, we risk defining virtue solely as a loss, which ignores the habituation of character.
In my line of work, those small habits are what keep people from screaming at each other during a crisis. You cannot jump to sacrificial virtue if you have not mastered the basics of not being a jerk.
This is just the corporate social responsibility of being a person. We are basically treating our personalities like a brand strategy to avoid being cancelled.
The social lubrication point is backed by game theory. Low-cost signals like holding a door often function as cheap signals to establish trust without actual commitment.
I disagree that these are always cheap signals. For someone with severe social anxiety, holding a door open can actually be a high-cost social risk.