Advantages And Disadvantages Of Peter Singer Famine

Peter Singer: Famine, Affluence, and Morality

1. Singer’s main argument is that, “suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad…” (866). He jumps to his general principle (the strong version) to say that, “if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought to morally, to do it” (866). If nothing bad is coming out of the moral good we wish to promote, we ought to morally do it. If we have the power to prevent something bad from happening, Singer says we ought to morally do it. This in other words only allows us to prevent the bad and not promote what is good. His second principle (the moderate version) is that, “if it is in our

Singer’s moderate principle is, “if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything morally significant, we ought, morally, to do it” (866). I think by taking this principle into consideration every day, we will have a way stronger bond with our family and friends and other connections we have with other people. I do think that a lot of bias occurs in a household. For example, if someone in our family needs help with something, many of the other family members may not help because they think someone else in the family will assist them. This principle says you should not let this dictate your choices to help or not. By choosing to help to prevent something bad from happening, we will have a flourishing society with people who strive to help because they morally know it is the right thing to do. I think it is a challenge to reconceive a society in which everyone believes in this principle. Many people can be bias without even realizing. We can definitely educate children in school and stress that this principle can help impact people tremendously. I do think the implication of following his moderate principle is consistent with living a meaningful and fulfilling life. This principle not only impacts others in a positive way, but changes our perspective on things. It can make us more open minded and understanding of the world. People even see the act of giving to others is bettering their own lives. By following this

I think it is very important to understand what difference you can make by giving to others in any way. I personally was raised that any donation is a good deed. In my religion, we are taught to give about 10% of our earnings to any charity. I was raised that any change you receive back from stores at cashiers should be put in a tip jar in return. My mother also has stressed to help anyone who may need assistance with their groceries to be placed in their car for example. There are many different ways to give if you cannot give financially. In my opinion, everyone should make time to volunteer for something at least once a year. Volunteering teaches you that you can achieve something with teamwork whether it is to build a house for a family in need, help children, or to set up an event in your city. As a morally conscientious person, I would want to help people daily when I get older. With this being said, my goal is to open up my own clinic. When I am financially stable on my own, I would for sure give back at least once a week. A morally conscientious person would want to reach out and help anyone simply because they have the desire to and not because they feel obligated or want something in return. Impartiality is a principle of justice that focuses on the main criteria or overall goal of what one is trying to accomplish without being bias or prejudice against someone. Universality simply says that I should only act in ways that I believe others should act as well.