The Singer Solution To World Poverty Analysis

Abraham Maslow created a diagram to represent a person’s needs. This diagram is used to show a person how “wealthy” they are in a sense of accomplishment and happiness. The first level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is psychological needs; which consist of food, shelter, and water. These are the needs, Maslow believes, that must be satisfied in order to reach any other sort of happiness (such as love and belonging, or self-actualization). In the article called, “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics, examines an idea that prosperous people, in means of money, should donate to overseas aid organizations with the extra income that they are using for luxuries. Although Peter Singer’s solution would never …show more content…
Human beings are selfish by nature, Singer explores this idea in his essay “The Singer Solution to World Poverty”. Singer creates a hypothetical situation where a man has to choose between his expensive car or the life of an unknown child, in this hypothetical the man chooses his expensive car because it represents status. This hypothetical shows that human beings are selfish, and they care more about their own status, and how they are seen, than they do about other people. A common problem used in TV show and movie plotlines is someone falling in love with a person who is poorer than them, or who does not have the same social status as them. This difference in social status is only considered a problem in our society because people are selfish and want to be seen as best as they can be. People would rather get a trophy for an accomplishment than a tree planted in their honor, because they want to be able to show-off their status. Because of this obsession with status, it would be impossible to force people to donate their extra money to aid organizations. Another reason why this solution is impossible is that people in wealthier countries do not feel connected to these countries in need, and because they don’t feel connected, they don’t think that it is their duty to help these countries. If a person is not experiencing the problem first hand, they do not care if they help …show more content…
If the world were to come together and donate extra money to organizations that help countries in need then the general population would become healthier and wealthier. Without a system like what Singer is suggesting, the world will continue on the path it is on right now, with the wealthy getting wealthier and the poor getting poorer. Except to accomplish this feat people would have to put aside their selfish nature and think about the good of the world, people would have to begin to sympathize with those in need, and realize that if roles were reversed they would need all the help they could get as well. This will prove to be impossible because people are not kind enough to do these things, they will always find excuses to get out of it. Although Singer presents a strong argument advocating for “spreading the wealth” it will not be possible to achieve, unless the people who will be able to donate have a change in