Moral principle that one should help others further their important and legitimate interests, either as those persons understand them (respecting autonomy) or as we conceive them (paternalism). Under this principle, failure to increase the good of others when one is knowingly in a position to do so is morally wrong. Nonetheless, the principle is usually understood restrictively: in most theories, one is obligated to act to benefit others when one can do so with minimal risk, inconvenience or expense.