Peter Singer Famine Summary

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Philosopher Peter Singer is the writer of an essay, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” that discusses famine and the role we, as human beings, have in order to help get rid of famine. Singer gives many different examples of why we should help those in need. One of those examples has to do with a child drowning. In the scenario, he is walking past a pond and sees a child drowning. He believes that saving the child from drowning is his moral obligation. This example of saving the child from drowning demonstrates the concept that “if it is in our power to prevent something very bad from happening” then we should do so (p. 874). Singer also uses this scenario to explain that we should not be worried about trivial things when it comes to helping