Peter Singer Rhetorical Analysis

Improved Essays
Kaitlyn Glick
Mrs. Rendon
Introduction to Ethics
15 November 2017

Peter Singer, a well renowned philosopher, speaks upon a proposal about donating money to help end poverty around the world, but this proposal as well brought controversy along with it. In Singer’s proposal, he believes it is a duty for Americans to donate the money they do not need and pour into luxuries into organizations that help provide food, shelter, and drinking water for children struggling with poverty. He believes that it is American’s responsibility for multiple reasons such as children struggling with poverty are defenseless and did not bring it upon themselves and if people do not donate they will feel guilty and disappointed in themselves. He brings up a situation
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As he is walking along, he notices a train coming and as well notices a kid further down the tracks and is about to get hit by this train, but he is not able to yell to this kid due to being too far away. After realizing this, he notices a switch that he could pull that would change the tracks and miss the kid, but it would end up hitting his car. In the end, he does not pull the switch and the kid dies from being hit by the train. The reason Singer presents this situation is because the man in the situation represents exactly how Americans are able to donate towards poverty yet do not, but believe that what the man had done was wrong. Singer questions that if people believed what the man had done was wrong then how come they do not find denying to donate money that they do not need as wrong. This reason of responsibility, that if you do not donate, but see such a situation as wrong then you are being hypocritical, is the main focus …show more content…
This epidemic creates sanitation problems and diseases which leads to at least 2 out of 10 children dying everyday. Certain programs have been developed since to help decrease the problem such as UNICEF, a donation company that helps to provide clean water. UNICEF created a rainwater filtration system within the town of Baney in order to provide clean water for the children. Even though UNICEF plays a major role in decreasing this problem, the main reason for this epidemic is the government of Equatorial Guinea. The government is not providing for the people properly and keeping as much as they can for themselves, leaving the citizens to suffer. In addition, how does one act upon said

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