Peter Singer Famine

Words: 1165
Pages: 5
Open Document
At the beginning of Famine, Affluence, and Morality by Peter Singer, the author states that he is in Bengal. Bengal is a city in India that is has a crumbling economy. According to his essay, “the people are dying from lack of food, shelter, and medical care.” In general humans haven’t been helping themselves by ignoring this ongoing problem in their societies. People will hold protest and demonstrate for other causes but not ones that are directly visible. It seems that people have turned a blind eye to this situation. “There is nothing unique about this situation except its magnitude.” This seems to be the unfortunate truth in most cases. The size of a problem is what makes it relevant. If it was a small problem then no one would care. The people of North America would have no idea what was going on in Asia if it was not publicized on a large spectrum. The assumption made in the essay is that death from basic necessities is bad. Everyone should have access to this needs and this …show more content…
It is true that there are people willing to physically help others. If I do not want to physically do it myself then why not help others do it. I would make sure to carefully consider how much I gave so that I would not sacrifice anything else that is morally significant to me. I would choose a charity that I felt a connection to and possibly volunteer my services. Then, I would choose a similar cause overseas to support. I believe that before helping people outside of our country, I should help the people here first. America as a whole should not help others when we cannot help ourselves. People tend to follow “the norm” so if everyone gave a small amount then the cycle would continue. No one would feel like they are the being pressured to give if it was a normal
Show More

Related Documents: Peter Singer Famine

Peter Singer Famine

Objections On Singer’s Famine, Affluence, and Morality Peter Singer argues the moral implications of donating to foreign aid to end famine. In his argument, he concludes one ought to donate to foreign aid to the level of marginal utility, which is defined as the level of donation at which giving the money is more detrimental to you in comparison to the good it does. One aspect of this argument is the idea that proximity shouldn’t influence whether you ought to give famine aid due to the modern capabilities…

Words 889 - Pages 4

Peter Singer Famine Summary

In “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, Peter Singer argues the manner in how people in affluent countries react towards those in need. Our traditional moral categories of duty and charity have diminished during time and we also view a deficiency in food, shelter, and poverty. Singer explains the insufficient moral responsibility of people and assumes that a lack of food causes starvation and family deaths are a form of suffering as well. As we all know, suffering is morally wrong; and these premises…

Words 1570 - Pages 7

Peter Singer Famine Analysis

The difference between duty and charity was made clear in Peter Singer’s “Famine, Affluence, and Morality” as he strongly argued people living in developed countries should be morally obligated to support people who are suffering. This paper will focus on Singer’s main argument and principles, the correct course of action felt by Singer to defeat poverty and the implications welfare consequentialism encounters when demanded on wealthy societies. Singer’s core argument contained two principles that…

Words 870 - Pages 4

Peter Singer Famine Essay

Rationally, I agree with Peter Singer’s ode to fight famine and his claim that, as affluent beings, we are morally obligated to contribute in fighting it. My qualm with Singer’s argument is that it implies we need to fulfill this obligation all the time in saying “if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it” (Singer 231). It’s easy to derive from this statement that if we are, in essence…

Words 588 - Pages 3

Peter Singer Famine Affluence And Morality

Peter Singer, an Australian moral philosopher, opposes to the way people perceive and deal with poverty, famine and the sufferance of the less fortunate. In his essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, he argues that we are failing to perform our moral duties insofar as we live lives of relative luxury while others are suffering and dying due to diseases, famine. He believes that it’s possible to reduce the pain and the sufferance of people and to avoid it if we give up our nonessentials. He states…

Words 696 - Pages 3

Famine, Affluence And Morality By Peter Singer

start the task because it seemed really daunting. So far in my life, I never had to write a specific number of pages for a paper. The expectation of writing “five” page was overwhelming. To start, I read the essay that was wrote by Peter Singer. Which was called Famine, Affluence and Morality. Though I understood what he was saying I disagreed with him. After reading I start to write my introduction and form a thesis for my paper. Afterwards, for better understanding of the material, I started researching…

Words 164 - Pages 1

Famine, Affluence And Morality: The 1970s Peter Singer

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…

Words 151 - Pages 1

Famine: Morality and Singer Essay

“Famine, Affluence, and Morality” name PHI208 Ethics and Moral Reasoning instructor date Peter Singer’s goal in “Famine, Affluence, and Morality was to convince people that the people as well as the governments should help with famine relief, primarily in East Bengal. Peter Singer wanted to let everyone know that the way that they deal with disasters is "morally unjustified". Mr. Singer’s three counter-arguments I think are that people from Bengali are far removed…

Words 380 - Pages 2

World Hunger and Our Responsibilities Essay

McCullough PHI 200 Mind and Machine Week 2 Assignment Instructor: Jack Isbell September 24, 2012 In the article “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” author Peter Singer believes that people who are wealthy should not spend money on unneeded objects while there are people starving in the world. Singer believes that people who are able to give money to the less fortunate, poverty and half-starving should do it to help them escape being poor. He also states…

Words 722 - Pages 3

Influence Famine And Morality Analysis

In response to Peter Singer’s “Affluence, Famine, and Morality” Richard Arneson wrote "What Do We Owe Distant Needy Strangers?" In a short paragraph from this article Arneson states a view of common-sense when dealing with the problems discussed in Singer’s article. The common-sense view is simply a thought process that one should help others regardless of distance. But Arneson also says that the help “does not include any quantification of the extent.” So it would be safe to say that Arneson is…

Words 189 - Pages 1