Peter Singer Argument

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“1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty” (Dosomething.org). According to Peter Singer, professor in bioethics at Princeton University, we have a moral obligation to help such people in need. His proposition states that “if you can prevent something bad from happening without making a morally significant sacrifice, you ought to do it” (149). To what extent should an individual feel obliged to help those in need? In this essay I will argue against Singer’s proposition because it is too demanding, restricting of one’s liberty, and a temporary solution.
Many individuals are willing to give money, to some extent, towards charities which help the less fortunate, but when …show more content…
From a Libertarian view, society needs to recognize each individual as free and separate, therefore everyone should choose what to do with their earnings. Each individual should be able to live freely as he or she chooses without the duty or obligation to help others. To make it a duty to help others reduces an individual’s freedom to make choices. This is a key aspect that Singer dismisses too swiftly. For Singer, as a utilitarian, the overall happiness outweighs the happiness of a few. If helping others reduces ones liberty then that is a loss he is willing to make. This forces us to alienate the things important to us. We then are not free to buy our loved ones gifts because that money could cause greater happiness in others. Singer may object by saying that each individual has the freedom to spend money on others, but one normally feels obligated to buy gifts for close ones which is not actual freedom. Real freedom is being able to spend on others whom you do not know because one does not feel like he or she needs to buy them gifts. Yet buying gifts for the ones whom one does not know will cause more happiness as opposed to the people one does know. Although this may be true, one could say actual liberty means to aid those without being told to do so; without it being a
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