During the 1970s Peter Singer wrote Famine, Affluence and Morality, which covered Singer’s thoughts on how we should treat those starving in poverty stricken countries. He outlined what John Arthur later called the greater moral evil rule. That is we should do everything we can to stop something bad from happening “without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance.” Taken at its strongest degree this would mean giving away everything you have until you are only just better off than those who you’re giving your money to. As he saw that most people would not be prepared to live by this, he formulated a more moderate view that stated that instead of buying ourselves luxuries, like new clothes when our old ones are fine, we should instead
