ipl-logo

Peter Singer's Arguments For Helping Overseas Aid Groups

557 Words3 Pages

Peter Singer argues that prosperous people should donate their excess money to the overseas aid groups. When saying this, he believes Americans should stop spending their money on luxuries such as a TV, a computer, a car, and videogames. Instead of spending money on items such as that, he thought we should start sending money to those who are starving in other countries and need our help. There are pros and cons to Singer’s argument and both can be greatly supported. Those who support his arguments for sending their money overseas are looking at all the good possible outcomes. One reason Americans may support the helping of those overseas is that they feel they are helping save lives. People overseas are dying of starvation and they feel there …show more content…

If Americans were to send all the excess money overseas, they would not have a comfortable amount of money if something unexpected were to come up that they had to pay for. Several Americans have had unpredictable events happen in their life, including the death of a loved one or an illness they were not expecting. Even today, many Americans do not have enough money to pay for these unforeseen events. If they were to send all their excess money away they may not have any support from others as well, which may put them in the same predicament as those they were trying to help. Another con for sending all the excess money to overseas aid groups would be that this has failed in the past. In 1992, the United States and United Nations intervened with the troubles the people in Somalia had been facing since warlords had overthrown the ruling dictatorship. They did so by sending in money for those who were starving, but it just lead to the killing of 18 American soldiers after the warlord turned to international forces. This is why some Americans view the cons of Singer’s arguments as a greater influence than the pros they face. In conclusion, the choice will be up to the Americans and whether or not they will want to send their money overseas. There are pros and cons to Peter Singer’s arguments on the subject, supported by opinions and past events. The outcomes may be different and the support Americans

Show More
Related
685 Words | 3 Pages

There are so many times when we do not know what is going on or we do not fully understand where our money is going to. For example, the US invested in war in Iraq and they spent over 200 billion dollars. McLauren had such a good point in the book were he said the war’s cost could have taken care of the world’s poor for five years. When I processed through this idea, I could not imagine how much different our world would be if we took some of our focus off of the wars and put more of our wealth into our own country. I know war is inevitable, but I think the US needs to think of other things to do before we jump to having a war with another country.

Read More
1471 Words | 6 Pages

Please help the children of this third world country by donating just one dollar a day. You can’t turn on the television without seeing a commercial asking you to donate to help feed the impoverished or to supply much needed medicine. In the article, “What Should a Billionaire Give – and What Should You?” the author attempts to make a point of giving money to charitable organizations, much like these commercials. Peter Singer’s article dives into the realm of philanthropy in order to aid the impoverished by appealing to logic through reasoning and statistics, and emotion by using examples throughout the writing.

Read More
676 Words | 3 Pages

In Singer’s essay, “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” the author begins by presenting the reader with the heartfelt scenario of the cost of a child vs. the cost of a new TV. Singer discusses how child trafficking with the intent of organ harvesting is the equivalent of purchasing a brand-new TV because in both cases one can improve conditions for children around the world, either by saving their life or by donating money to help them. Next, Singer goes into the narrative of a man named Bob. Bob has his entire life savings put into a precious Bugatti. However, Bob must make the choice to save his car or to flip the lever and save a child stuck on the railroad tracks.

Read More
160 Words | 1 Pages

Intervention The united states proposes the open door policy

Read More
794 Words | 4 Pages

By providing a specific number, $200, Singer demonstrates how simple and reasonable it is to save a child in poverty. Additionally, he repeats, “to save a child’s life,” which demonstrates exactly what a $200 donation could do for a child in poverty. As an example, Singer references a credible philosopher, Peter Unger, and acknowledges that “by his calculation, $200 in donations would help a sickly 2-year-old transform into a healthy 6-year-old.” Next, he establishes, “if you were to give up dining out just for one month, you would easily save that amount.” Singer emphasizes this to show the reader how simple it is to save $200, and, more importantly, save the life of a helpless child.

Read More
448 Words | 2 Pages

He thinks the United States shouldn’t be in other nations, and they shouldn’t be fighting battles with other nations. He prefers peace and

Read More
1234 Words | 5 Pages

Millions of people are hungry and thousands of individuals die of starvation each day. Meanwhile, the average American spends a portion of their income on luxuries, such as televisions to imported cars. In the article, “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” Peter Singer stresses that Americans should donate all of their income that is not needed for necessities to overseas charities and aid organizations in order to resolve world poverty. However, his straightforward proposition to end world poverty lays on a controversial topic that questions one’s morals and rights.

Read More
1078 Words | 5 Pages

Peter Singer himself writes, “We can give to organizations like Unicef or Oxfam America” (Singer, 737). If the wealthy people were to help the poor out, there is no reason to bother in using children of the poor to feed the wealthy. The money that will be provided can go into making shelters in which those children can live happily. There is no reason for those who do not trust organizations, to be selfish. They themselves can create their own organization, give children shelters and their parents a job as well.

Read More
1292 Words | 6 Pages

Singer is no stranger to writing moral arguments, having written many different books and articles in the past on a wide range of ethical debates. “The Singer Solution to World Poverty,” originally printed in the New York Times in the fall of 1999 just before Singer began to work at Princeton University, is intended for the common man, a middle-class citizen who makes average wages and reads popular newspapers. As Singer is a professor of ethics, the article is structured around the

Read More
1805 Words | 8 Pages

Due to this reason, Singer states that the fair donation argument fails and would not be enough to fix the problem. Now that we have an understanding of Singer’s beliefs, I can show how Singer would respond to the question given in the prompt. Peter would say that yes he should donate, but the small amounts he would be choosing to donate would be nowhere near the amount that he should be choosing to give. Singer would say that any money that he isn’t spending on necessities should be donated to help those in dire situations, and that not doing so is

Read More
576 Words | 3 Pages

Singer attempts to close this gap with the age old question of ‘why don’t we give the riches’ money to the poor’. The essence of Singer’s argument is obviously end world poverty. Probably the strongest point made in Singer’s argument is the involvement of the whole world. By taking this money from those across the world eliminates the opportunity for indifference. To stand with indifference is to stand with the oppressor.

Read More
3128 Words | 13 Pages

Philip Manning 12504697 Q) Evaluate Peter Singer’s argument in ‘Famine, Affluence and Morality’. There can be no doubt that Peter Singer’s argument in ‘Famine, Affluence and Morality’ is unrealistic, unfair and not sustainable. Singer’s arguments are valid arguments but not sound. In order to get a clear and balanced view of my arguments which disprove the Singer article, it is first necessary to examine and lay out the main aspects of Singer’s argument in ‘Famine, Affluence and Morality’. My arguments against Singer’s claims shall then be detailed and examined in depth.

Read More
820 Words | 4 Pages

Frederick Buechner once said, “Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin.” Similarly, an author by the name of Barbara Lazear Ascher wrote an essay called “On Compassion,” in which she states that people learn about compassion when they experience hardships and begin to put oneself in another’s place. Along with the idea of compassion being learned, Ascher also tries to make us wonder what our motive is that leads us to being compassionate. Ascher tries to make us question why we feel the need to be compassionate towards others throughout her essay.

Read More
1179 Words | 5 Pages

This is because the United States government is so large, it is virtually impossible to track all of the various federal agencies’ programs across countries and sectors to pinpoint the exact number or amount of assistance their government provides, in terms of the citizens’ taxpayer dollars going to foreign government, or even just their militaries. However, we can focus on the three main programs where military funding is allocated, namely foreign military financing(FMF), peacekeeping operations(PKO), and the International Military Education and Training Program(IMET). In foreign military financing, some of their objectives include to improve the military capabilities of key friendly countries to contribute to international crisis response operations, including peacekeeping and humanitarian crises, to promote bilateral, regional and multilateral coalition efforts, notably in the global war of terrorism and to assist the militaries of friendly countries and allies to procure U.S defense articles and services that strengthen legitimate self-defense capabilities and security needs. FMF is vital to supporting U.S coalition partners in the war on terrorism. It promotes U.S national security by strengthening military support for democratically-elected governments, contributing to regional and global stability, and containing

Read More
1035 Words | 5 Pages

The foreign aid program is created to bring an end to poverty, conflicts and other difficulties that poor-developed countries are enabled to solve it. Everything is not about money, but it is about power, political view or group society. In many well-developed countries, corruption and political control are being reviewed by the UN and other governance, because they could be penalized or have sanctions. In a less-developed country that are already being helped with foreign aid, the governance and other aid programs must have their hands tied when it comes to penalized or sanctioned, because they are already in need, therefore corruption is created in those less-developed countries and hunger follows. There is the end of hungriness that is currently trying to be solved in the world, but there are still conflicts with political control that keeps the foreign aid to cause hunger in

Read More

More about Peter Singer's Arguments For Helping Overseas Aid Groups

Related Topics

Open Document