Peter Singer The Singer Solution To World Poverty Summary

What do you do when charitable organizations call you asking for money? Do you donate money to the organization or do you ignore it? Peter Singer would argue that many people ignore it, and in 1999 he wrote the article “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” where he argues “that each one of us with wealth surplus to his or her essential needs should be giving most of it to help people suffering poverty so dire as to be life-threatening.” Singer introduces his article with two exceptionally different examples: a woman who saved a child’s life and a man who killed a child to save his Bugatti. Secondly, he proposes how much money would be required to save a child from starvation, $200, and explains why a majority people do not give even though $200 is not actually that much money. Third, he acknowledges that many people do not believe that they need to give above and over their fair share; he even points out that this also applies to countries with the United States giving .09% when the recommendation is .7%. Finally, he recognizes that human nature leaves people not wanting to sacrifice what is ours to strangers, he says he has

Singer then acknowledges our first response: Bob is a monster. However, then he points out how we are all Bob’s position when we are “able but unwilling to donate to overseas aid.” (9). By giving Bob’s narrative before starting his argument he allows the reader to develop feelings of anger and disappointment toward Bob. Singer then explains how by not giving to charities we are also killing children. This implies that we are no different than Bob, and the feelings of anger become feelings shame and guilt. Singer then plays on this guilt to convince us to make the $200