When discussing the value of human life, people (especially those directly affected by deaths) tend to become upset. They cannot seem to agree on how to measure the value of a life. A prime example of this happened following the 9/11 incident, when many deaths required government payouts to loved ones. Someone had to determine how much to give each family—and they had to base it off of something.…
Moral Comparability In Famine, Affluence, and Morality by Peter Singer, he argues that we are morally obligated to donate as much money to charity as we can to help limit poverty in the world. Singer explains that there are many people in the world suffering from poverty, and living very poor-quality lives as a result of poverty. He argues that poverty is morally wrong because of the suffering it promotes. Singer believes it is the moral obligation of humans to donate as much as they can to help limit the suffering of the poor in the world, without sacrificing anything moral comparability. In this paper, I will argue that Singer uses vague language to describe what the line is for moral comparability.…
Andrew Carnegie, a self made millionaire stated “the man who dies thus rich dies disgrace” (Carnegie). The inspiration came from his belief that men like him held a great responsibility to contribute their wealth for the good of mankind. In his essay “The Gospel of Wealth” he emphasizes on how millionaires should spread their wealth even by leaving a positive impact in the world. However his main concern is how wealthy man should contribute to society when they’re alive.…
Everyday millions of people around the world suffer in circumstances, in which they could die from lack of proper care and resources. In Famine, Affluence, and Morality, Peter Singer acknowledges this issue facing humanity and argues for the moral obligation to give large amounts of money to those in need. Singer believes that all who are able should be giving up many, if not all of their luxuries to help give the less fortunate their necessities. I will begin by summarizing the argument that Singer dictates in his article and then explain my reasoning for believing his notions to be sound and valid.…
The Time Magazine article “What Is a Life Worth?” discusses how the government invented a formula to determine the monetary value of a person’s life. The author, Amanda Ripley, poses the question: “Is a poor man’s life worth less than a rich man’s?” Using reasoning and true stories, she concludes that everyone’s life is worth the same regardless of a person’s wealth. I contend the opposite. The government’s method of compensating families after 9/11 was the right decision.…
In life we are faced with a series of “big questions”. These questions answer whether we are decently moral people. The ‘big question” we are going to tackle is ‘are we under an obligation to save lives?’ If so, what is required of us to be a morally decent person? In “The Gift” by Parker we learn that Zell Kravinsky would take a utilitarian approach to this question.…
Industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s article “Wealth,” later known as “The Gospel of Wealth,” was published in the North American Review in June of 1889. In his writing, he rejected the traditional goals of charity. He depended less on carefully discriminating between the “worthy” and “unworthy” recipients than on attacking the root causes of unequal distributions of wealth itself. Carnegie believed that wealth should be invested in such worthwhile ventures for the wellbeing of the public being rather than using money senselessly and ineffectively. With regard to Carnegie’s belief, he indicates that the estates of the dead millionaire, or so to say, should be taxed increasingly so that the tax can go towards helping the public.…
and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University. He has published many of articles and books. “His writing have been translated into eighteen languages” (qtd.in Sandel). Citing these sources improve Sandel’s credibility by showing that he has done so much work and has provided reviews to accomplish his desire, like he is trying to change the society we live where almost everything is can be bought and sold. In chapter four Sandel wonders why life and death have become the object of money.…
Ch17. The Rise of Industrial America, 1865-1900 ~ By 1900, U.S. leading industrial power by a combination of factors : * Natural Resources (coal, iron ore, copper, lead..) * Labor Supplies (immigrants)…
In 2015, CEO of Gravity Payments Dan Price, announced his decision to raise the minimum wage of his employees to $70,000 USD over the next 3 years. Dan Price made this decision after reading a happiness study from Princeton that stated employees wellbeing and happiness rose with income increases up to $75,000 USD per year (at which point income stopped affecting happiness.) To fund these increases, the CEO dramatically reduced his salary from $1 Million USD to $70,000 USD and is projecting higher profits in the coming years (O’Brien, 2015). Critics of the decision have been some internal employees who did not think it was fair that their colleagues with less skills and education had their wages raised to the same level as them. Other CEO’s…
The central theme of Carnegie's argument about the Gospel of Wealth is that rich people are superior to all others and should be allowed to use their money to help the less "fit" people. Carnegie believed in Social Darwinism. He believed that the fact that a person was rich showed that he was more fit than others. This meant that the rich man was the one who knew the most about how to prosper in society.…
What is a human life worth? Some may say it is worth millions of dollars no matter what. Others might argue that a human’s worth is dependant on who they are, where they came from and what they can do. In Peter Singer’s Article “What Should a Billionaire Give?” he states that many people would be reluctant to even consider putting a fixed rate. It would be unethical to do so, however, he continues with “If we really had to, most of us would agree that the value of human life would be in the millions.”…
Kansas City Zephyrs Bill had to be an arbitrator between Owners Committee and Players Union 1. Roster Depreciation The owners recognize depreciation of a value placed on the player roster at the time the baseball club was purchased apparently just because tax rules allowed them to do so. Tax rules allow this value to be set arbitrarily at a maximum of 50% of the purchase price (It would be foolish to set it at a lower value for tax purposes).…
In this paper I will reconstruct Singer’s argument as well as argue why his argument is unsound. In Singer’s paper, Famine, Affluence and Morality, he argues that any kind of suffering from lack of food, healthcare and shelter is a bad thing. He further argues that if we have the ability to prevent something bad from happening, that it is our duty as moral beings to prevent suffering unless we have to sacrifice something of significant moral importance. In class we called it the prevent suffering principle. An example that Singer gives is of the prevent suffering principle is to imagine a young child drowning in a shallow pond.…
However, one must ask one’s self, “What about the rich who earned their way of living? What about the ones who pay their taxes right, and they run a good business? What about those who their business is their life, and they may have money, but do they have anything else? What sacrifices have they made to put them in the situations that they are…