Analysis Of Famine, Affluence And Morality By Pete Singer

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In the article, Famine, Affluence, and Morality, Pete Singer begins his argument with the notion that everyone believes that suffering and dying from lack of food and medical care are bad things. Furthermore, if we as humans know this to be bad then we have a responsibility to prevent bad things from occurring, according to singer. Throughout the article Singer will explain the distance in which one should reach out to, the amount of aid an individual should provide should provide. Knowing that dying and suffering from starvation are bad things we as humans have a responsibility to help those in need. Singer suggests that we must provide help until up until the point we are not causing harm to ourselves. Many would agree with this argument, …show more content…

There are those who argue that giving aid is nothing more than charity and should not be imposed as a duty. They argue there be a moral code that is easy for an ordinary man to follow, a moral code that allows some actions to be morally incorrect to do and actions to be the good thing to do. An example used in the text is if a person is told that he should refrain from murder and give all the money he does not really need then the person will not do either. Because both actions are equally incorrect people would be prone to do either. Furthermore, there are those who believe that aid is a job designated to the government, the belief is that if more private charities are actively fighting famine the government would be relived of the duty. Singer explains that he believes that is unlikely to happen but we as individuals should do as much as we can. Leaving the responsibility to the government would relive us from any responsibility, leaving us to do nothing. Furthermore, there are those who believe that providing aid is not a real solution to the issue. Providing famine relief would only be a temporary fix, a real solution would be to control the population. Singer does not oppose this argument. If population control is the issue than find a way of supporting the cause and provide as much help as you can. According to Singer you must provide aid in the best of your capabilities, rather that to no do anything at

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