There is a saying that suggest “A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money”. So often people are judged for the amount of money they have or for the materialistic things that they may or may not have. We see charity’s and fundraisers daily raising money to help not only the poor but it some cases it could be the rich. Most people often say the rich stay rich because they do not want to give up their money to help with the poor. In “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case Against Helping the Poor” by: Garrett Hardin and “A Modest Proposal” by: Jonathan Swift their views on the rich helping the poor are vastly different due to personal experiences, logic, and ultimately everyday life.
First, helping the poor is a quality that could be life changing
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for a person. Not everyone chooses to be poor with the acceptation of a few. Garret Hardin has a hard time feeling like he should take his money to help the poor because he never really experienced being poor. “We must convince them if we wish to save at least some parts of the world from environmental ruin.” (Hardin 181) Hardin feels the world is being ruined with all of the government assistant programs, and foodbanks that are established for the poor. On the other hand Jonathan Swift experienced being poor so he has a total different aspect on the rich helping the poor. “As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in their computation.” (Swift 385) Swift has a heart to help others because he knows what it is like to experience being poor and not having help from others. Next, Both Swift and Hardin made logical points on whether the rich should or should not help the poor. Hardin made a very precise point on population. In the United States, we have seen an increase amount in population due to the amount of teen pregnancy and other reasons. State resources are falling behind keeping up to help support those people however the other percentage of the state that work and still struggle should not be punished due to the shortage of funds. “Each American would have to share the available resources with more than eight people.” (Hardin 173) This is where it is helpful for the rich to help the poor so more resources are available. Swift agrees he feels outraged that mothers of their children have to find other means to provide for their families. “These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants, who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain.” (Swift 385) If there was just a little bit of help from the rich to help ensure more for the poor maybe the crime rate would be lower and the job rates would be higher. Last, the rich helping the poor is not just a subject that can be debated.
It is everyday life for people. Swift realized that when he experienced being poor himself. He decided he wanted to make a difference. “But my intention is very far from being confined to provide only for the children of professed beggars; it is of a much greater extent, and shall take in the whole number of infants at a certain age who are born of parents in effect as little able to support them as those who demand our charity in the streets” (Swift 385) Swift is not confined to just helping one person he wants to help all no matter the cost. The rich helping the poor would help build new programs to fund for shelter, foodbanks, and clothing. Hardin however does not support the idea of the rich helping the poor “For the foreseeable future, our survival demands that we govern our actions by the ethics of a lifeboat, harsh though they may be.” (Hardin 182) Hardin clearly disagrees with the rich helping the poor and with any government assistance. Although people do take advantage of assistance programs, there are people who genuinely need help. So why should the rich not help these people? Hardin will probably never see eye to eye on the rich helping the poor.
All in all, everybody at some point in time in life is probably going to need help in some way or another. The rich helping the poor is just a way of life. There are benefits that could come out of it with new programs that could help with less fortunate people. With new guidelines in place and requirements to receive the assistance programs maybe things would run more smoothly. Although Hardin and Garrett did not see eye to eye they both made valid points on how they felt on the rich helping the poor. There thoughts were expressed through life experiences, logic, and everyday
living.
How did the rich of Hudson Valley and Harlem New York differ in behavior patterns and personal attitudes towards home ownership during 1920 to 1925? Even with the distinction of race between Hudson valley rich and Harlem rich are the two groups in anyway similar? The rich of Hudson Valley did not feel the need nor the obligation to be philanthropical towards their under class counterparts. They were desensitized towards the needs of the poor and unfortunates of society. The Harlem rich however, felt a moral and spiritual obligation to help those less fortunate then themselves to become more prosperous so that they could aspire to the joys of home ownership. Only if they felt the individuals were worthy of their help.
The essay titled "Lifeboat Ethics: the Case against Helping the Poor" by Garrett Hardin, was very interesting. The first part of the essay used a metaphor of the rich people of the earth in a lifeboat and the poor people in the sea drowning. The rich people could only allow a few people in and if they let, too many people in they will sink the boat and all die. The best thing for the rich people to do is not to let anyone in so they will have adequate supplies and space for them to survive.
Quote: “If you’re in trouble or hurt or in need-- go to poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help-- the only ones” (376).
The concepts of poverty and wealth only have meaning relative to each other. While poverty can’t be eliminated without wealth becoming meaningless, the vast difference in living conditions between the wealthy and poor must be addressed. Andrew Carnegie, wealthy industrialist, and Peter Singer, moral philosopher, both argue that philanthropy should improve the living conditions of the poor. However, their approaches to philanthropy are vastly different, and both have inherent flaws. Singer’s philosophy that everyone has a duty to give away all their excess wealth until the point of “marginal utility” also removes the wealth incentive that drives societal productivity. On the other hand, Carnegie’s paternalistic policy of educating the poor to
According to Peter Singer, we as a society must adopt a more radical approach with regards to donating to charity and rejecting the common sense view. In the essay Famine, Affluence, and Morality, Singer argues that we have a strong moral obligation to give to charity, and to give more than we normally do. Critics against Singer have argued that being charitable is dependent on multiple factors and adopting a more revisionary approach to charity is more difficult than Singer suggests; we are not morally obliged to donate to charity to that extent.
In June 1889, Andrew Carnegie wrote an article known as, “The Gospel of Wealth,” or “Wealth,” which portrays the responsibility of philanthropy. In the article, Carnegie acknowledges the “three modes in which wealth can be disposed of, which are, “it can be left to the families of the decedents; or it can be bequeathed for public purposes… or, finally, it can be administered by its possessors during their lives…” Moreover, Carnegie believes a rich man shouldn’t leave a fortune to their families and men shouldn’t wait until death to donate money for public uses. In addition, Carnegie (1889) portrays that, the only mode for a rich man to use their fortune is, “to produce the most beneficial results for the community- the man of wealth thus becoming the … agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience, and ability to administer; doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves… The man who dies rich dies disgraced,” (doc 8). Nevertheless, Carnegie believes that a man of wealth should donate as much money as possible during his life to become much good in the world while living. This evidence helps explain why Andrew Carnegie was a hero because he acknowledges that a man of wealth should donate to those in need while living which makes Carnegie a courageous
The issue is that there is a growing number of poor and starving women and children living on the streets of Ireland that are a burden to the public and the country. The context is that these homeless and starving women and children are left to fend for themselves on the streets. Jonathan Swift is making the argument from the point of a concerned citizen who has spent years among the poor in Ireland studying the situation and trying to come up with a solution. Johnathan Swift used the example that those who visit Ireland and see the streets crowded with women and children that are beggars conclude that Ireland is a very poor, overpopulated country full of beggars and that they look down upon their country that is in such poor shape. His bias is that as a citizen living in Ireland, he does not want to be looked down upon by other countries. His targeted audience seems to be the citizens of the country and those in higher up positions who ...
This statement is true, but the money that sustained the philanthropic ways of the Industrialists was obtained in a way exemplify the qualities of a Robber Baron. A list of Rockefeller's major donations added up to about $500,000,000. While this money went charities and hospitals, the money was made from unethical business practices and the undermining of employees. The Saturday Globe’s political cartoon of Carnegie shows him cutting wages and giving away libraries and money. Industrialists took money that went from their workers away to practice philanthropy. The money might have gone to great causes, but the way it was obtained is characteristic of Robber Barons. Andrew Carnegie's essay, “The Gospel of Wealth” he describes the role of the wealthy in the community. Carnegie class the millionaire a “trust for the poor” and states that the wealthy know how to best invest n the community. This role taken on by Carnegie and other wealthy Americans of the late 19th century is reminiscent of that of an oligarchy, where a small group has control of the community. The oligarchical position of the wealthy in Carnegie's essay is against the American values of freedom and individuality, and very discriminatory towards the
In addition, the poor are overburdened they always have been, especially in 2014. This is owing to the fact that the middle class is close to disappearing, which is forming a large gap between the poor and the rich. Furthermore, banking can be more expensive for nearly all poor people, whom are usually put in extreme circumstances where they are required to pay more taxes. And the poor are usually shut out from society and are left on the street as if they were a piece of garbage, which is why it is particularly difficult to attain a job as a poor person. Not many people in the world care for the poor. It is surprising to think that the poor had not been oppressed in 1791. Someone would think the poor have always had a heavy burden. The majority of America’s population is poor and they are ignored and portrayed as aliens whom we should have no contact with.
Since I spoke about rich people, I should talk about poor people. I feel compassion, admiration, and generous when it comes to poor people. I feel they have a rough life but always tend to put on a smile and look happy. I always want to be kind and friendly to poor people and make them feel like they have a friend who will help and support them if needed. I think poor people are kind and generous. I previously said that rich people are stingy about their money, but poor people are the exact opposite. Even though they lack mone...
In Garrett Hardin’s “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against Helping the Poor, Hardin argues that you should not help the poor because there are limited resources and if the poor continue to seek help they will continue to overpopulate, disrespecting all of limits. Hardin supports his argument by using the lifeboat metaphor while trying to convince the rich not to lend a helping hand to the poor. In the lifeboat metaphor Garrett Hardin uses the upper class and the lower class people to give us a visual of how the lifeboat scenario actually works. Along with the lifeboat metaphor, Hardin uses the tragedy of commons, population growth, and the Joseph and Pharaoh biblical story to persuade the readers.When reading “Lifeboat Ethics: The Case against
Most people feel that they should help the needy in some way or another. The problem is how to help them. This problem generally arises when there is a person sitting on the side of the road in battered clothes with a cardboard sign asking for some form of help, almost always in the form of money. Yet something makes the giver uneasy. What will they do with this money? Do they need this money? Will it really help them? The truth of the matter is, it won't. However, there are things that can be done to help the needy. Giving money to a reliable foundation will help the helpless, something that transferring money from a pocket to a man's tin can will never do.
...are extraordinarily wealthy. Even though the wealthy are trying to do good by donating money, in reality, the wealthy are simply giving away their money to people who do not necessarily need it, according to Thoreau.
When my mother saw beggars standing on the intersection asking for help, my mom would try to help them by giving them the money, but my father would argue that you should not help because this would only encourage them to rely on other people’s help. My father says they should helped by the government, instate of helped by individuals. It is not our responsibility to take care of them. I disagree with both of them because they do not look at or think about the problem closely enough. I think people are not only facing problems with wealth, but diseases, and war. These are also problems that many people in many other countries also face. If we work together, we may be able to help each other and make this world better. In my opinion, there are several solutions that poor countries and wealthy countries working together could implement that would benefit both.
Philanthropy, or the act of private and voluntary giving, has been a familiar term since it first entered the English language in the seventeenth century. Translated from the Latin term “philanthropia” or “love of mankind,” philanthropy permeates many social spheres and serves several social purposes including charity, humanitarianism, religious morality and even manipulation for social control.