Singer, Peter (1972). Famine, Affluence, and Morality. Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (3):229-243.
“Famine, Affluence, and Morality” was written by a well-known Jewish philosopher named Peter Singer. Singer has made many endeavors in ethics, tackling different taboo issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and animal rights. He grew up and attended school in Melbourne, Australia. In college, he became an avid proponent of veganism and vegetarianism leading him to pen his well-known book Animal Liberation. He has expressed some extremely controversial opinions, which has contributed to his success as a philosopher.
“Famine, Affluence, and Morality” is based upon the idea that everyone, especially those with greater financial means, has a responsibility to contribute to those who are less fortunate in order to lessen the impact of famine and disaster. Singer maintains that we must adjust the way that we live and, in essence, our values so that we are able to give more to those who are in need. By stating, “It may be possible to redraw …show more content…
Doing this through donations and charity seems acceptable to Singer, even at the cost of a person’s quality of life. Singer’s quote, “…one would reduce oneself to very near the material circumstances of a Bengali refugee” (241), says to me that we should be diminished to a similar state in which we are trying to correct, albeit marginally. Is this a reasonable trade? According to economist Angus Deaton, most of the aid sent to developing countries may not have helped the poor at all. From studies carried out by a number of economists, it seemed that countries with the most aid coming in had lower economic growth and vice versa. It was assumed this was because the government in these countries were not tending to their people’s needs as they were expected to (Swanson
“Famine, Affluence, and Morality” was written by a well-known Jewish philosopher named Peter Singer. Singer has made many endeavors in ethics, tackling different taboo issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and animal rights. He grew up and attended school in Melbourne, Australia. In college, he became an avid proponent of veganism and vegetarianism leading him to pen his well-known book Animal Liberation. He has expressed some extremely controversial opinions, which has contributed to his success as a philosopher.
“Famine, Affluence, and Morality” is based upon the idea that everyone, especially those with greater financial means, has a responsibility to contribute to those who are less fortunate in order to lessen the impact of famine and disaster. Singer maintains that we must adjust the way that we live and, in essence, our values so that we are able to give more to those who are in need. By stating, “It may be possible to redraw …show more content…
Doing this through donations and charity seems acceptable to Singer, even at the cost of a person’s quality of life. Singer’s quote, “…one would reduce oneself to very near the material circumstances of a Bengali refugee” (241), says to me that we should be diminished to a similar state in which we are trying to correct, albeit marginally. Is this a reasonable trade? According to economist Angus Deaton, most of the aid sent to developing countries may not have helped the poor at all. From studies carried out by a number of economists, it seemed that countries with the most aid coming in had lower economic growth and vice versa. It was assumed this was because the government in these countries were not tending to their people’s needs as they were expected to (Swanson