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October 2, 2013

AJ Harmond

Singer's argumentation is rather straightforward and easily accessible to non-philosophy readers (aside from maybe some of his terminology about different ethical positions) and that probably explains the popularity of the first piece and Singer overall. I have to say, I do believe the ends he is trying to reach are worthwhile. But I hold a long standing disdain for Singer. I find much of his ethical posturing to displace any sort of change. Singer's ethics are minimalist in action, which once again is probably a contribution to his popularity, in that it does not require the ethical subject to change their positions really. Maybe if your ethics are extremely conservative. But, and Singer attempts to show this in Rich and Poor, any ethical position should find giving foreign aid as an ethically important action. In other words, any decent person would really not have a problem with his argument, especially assuming one is only holding him to the full essay which ends saying that a small contribution is ethically positive. (I also have an aversion to his quantifying ethics, but his book is about "practical" ethics)

My biggest trouble with his argumentation is that he never reaches for a systemic examination of what is causing the poverty he wants to alleviate. Having been unacquainted with One World, I was hopeful that he would have a more in-depth or stronger ethical position within it. I was disappointed. I would say, from what I read, Singer is only attempting to strengthen the argument he made oh so long ago in Rich and Poor. (And like I said, it is an agreeable aim) His argument against preferring the nation state is fine, but I think he position becomes weak within his own examination. He easily dismisses the favor of the nation state when he finally arrives to it, but before that he takes up the question of family members and other, closer cohorts and his position on those considerations are vague. I'm tempted to say his own views are stronger, but in order to maintain a broader audience he once again sticks to minimalism.

But, I have been aware of Singer for some time now and so I came into the readings having already rejected a number of aspects of Singer's thought. Perhaps his arguments are more powerful when they are first read?

In any case, here is a video clip of Peter Singer giving a broad explanation of his position in the film The Examined Life by Astra Taylor, for those of you who might want to hear more about him: [1] I would highly recommend watching The Examined Life if it ever returns to Netflix, or if you are inclined to look it up online. It has a number of prominent philosophers (Cornell West, Michael Hardt, Judith Butler and Slavoj Zizek among others) discussing different aspects of their philosophy, and is a short and accessible primer to them that might be easier to sit through than reading something by them.

Samantha Olsen

In Singer's chapters of One World he mentions in both chapter 1 & 5 that nation leaders focus only on the interests of their citizens. He observes that there is an ethical obligation to not only those in our nation but all those considered human. On page 7, Singer says "We need to extend the reach of the criminal law there and to have the means to bring terrorists to justice without declaring war on an entire country in order to do it." The implications with this is determining what is universally moral. In the eyes of the terrorists their actions could be seen as been righteous. Considering that most everyone believes that terrorist acts are wrong then as humans we abide by a "higher" law that is universal over all.

If we as humans abide by a "higher" law, where did the law come from? It brings to question if there is a higher entity and if it created the univeral "higher" law. But then how do we as humans know about this law? It could've been ingrained into our heads OR we could run into the same problem that we do with science--Everything that we know came from our own understanding and thoughts, therefore nothing is outside of our own foundations that we've built. This means that somewhere in history a group of people could've thought up moral laws (i.e. killing is wrong) and enforced it onto people until it becomes a universally recognized concept, like the idea of the tooth fairy.

Continuing with looking at law and our obligation as citizens, I ran across Thomas Aquinas's explanation of law. In summary it says that law is an ordinace of reason that is communicated for the common good issued by one who has the interests of the community in mind. This explanation would explain the first line that I mentioned from Singer about how selfish nation leaders are by focusing only on their communities needs. Maybe it is in our nature to focus on our own nation's needs and safety before turning to look at helping others in need. Just like a successful law keeps in mind the interests of the community then so must nation's leaders in order to keep their nation and their people thriving.

Avel Diaz

Indeed the piece written by Singer is both explicit and compelling. It is also very critical in the sense where judgment is passed onto those who do not work to help others in extreme need. Singer, from a logical stand point works to illustrate how absolute poverty is something bad, and people without sacrificing anything of comparable moral significance should do all they can to help cease it. However, the argument fails to end here, for Singer argues that it is rather immoral for people to choose not to help out and allow absolute poverty to not only exist but continue to worsen. What is absolute poverty? Singer employs McNamara’s’ definition of absolute poverty, namely, “a condition of life so characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surroundings, high infant mortality and low life expectancy as to beneath any reasonable definition of human decency,” to draw a distinction between absolute poverty from relative poverty. Surely, absolute poverty is most profound, and is an extremely unfortunate aspect of life that most people in affluent nations, such as the U.S. that have never experienced. How might have Singer come to draw the inference that it is immoral for people who can help, choose not to help put a stop to absolute poverty? Firstly, Singer asks the question of whether or not there is any moral distinction between killing someone and allowing them to die. Singer then gives a great deal of possible explanations that can distinguish the two acts, however, for Singer they both have the same result: which is the death of a person. Thus, Singer proposes that people should have an obligation to help those in need by donating either money or their time to help those living in absolute poverty. He further strengthens the applicability of this obligation by arguing that people ought to help fight against absolute poverty, unless doing so would involve the person of sacrificing something of comparable moral significance. But what is anything that is of comparable moral significance? For Singer, if a person would actually be committing more harm for himself, that is contributing to his own debt, thus causing him to live a life of absolute poverty, by donating to those in need, then that person would be morally justified in choosing not to contribute to the fight against absolute poverty overseas. However, in most affluent and developed nations, such cases are rare. In the attempt to argue his position, namely, the obligation of people to help cure absolute poverty, Singer discusses the principle where people must do all they can to do good and prevent bad things from happening. Singer argues that if this principle is applied, then it follows that people should prevent the continuation of absolute poverty since absolute poverty too is bad. Thus, the logic behind Singer’s argument is as follows: people must prevent bad things from happening, but not at the cost of anything of comparable moral significance. Absolute poverty is bad. Some absolute poverty can be prevented by anything of comparable moral significance. Therefore, we ought to prevent some absolute poverty. As a logician, Singer understands that to strengthen his argument, he must incorporate counter-arguments, that is, he must reply to the objections of his proposed obligation to help vanquish absolute poverty. Indeed, Singer does so exceptionally well. He includes the objections that may discredit the strengths behind his argument. A couple objections that I would like to highlight are the arguments of an ever increasing population, and an essential elimination of a good life that all work to prevent people from giving help. Surely, these objections can have the power to motivate anyone not to contribute their wealth to help end absolute poverty. Though, these reasons are insufficient in the rejection of his proposed obligation to help those in need. And in response to the objection concerning the idea that if people were to help fight against absolute poverty, then these people would have to give up the many things that enable people to live good lives, I agree with Singer and believe that a life filled with interesting things and activities may be upheld by those only who have had a chance to experience it in affluent regions, however, for those in other parts of the world who are suffering from absolute poverty may not uphold those same lifestyles. Overall, Singer’s is quite convincing. What’s important to note is his employment of logic and reasoning, for it is the logic which serves to strengthen the validity and applicability of his argument.

Aric Wokojance

I have been interested in Peter Singer since I first read him in my Critical Thinking class. I do find his arguments interesting, but as I think about them over time I have become more skeptical. I think he oversimplifies the issues.

Think about it if all we had to do was feed and clothe everyone wouldn’t that be easy to do? In Spokane, for example, no one should starve. I say this after volunteering at the Union Gospel Mission for a few years. There is an abundance of food in this town, but people still starve and are homeless. The main reason for this is they will not stop their substance abuse. So, if we truly wanted to stop poverty in this country would not we force them into programs that would not allow them to abuse drugs and alcohol? And to follow that line of reasoning would we not keep them locked up in these facilities if they could not or would not stop this abuse? This just raises more and more ethical questions instead of solving any. The problem becomes much more complex when we carry this argument over to other countries.

Also, I believe his idea of what it means to be poor is too narrowly defined, but that is an easier position to defend. One can pull up statistics and show economic poverty, but that begs the question what does it mean to be poor? If we are talking about economic poverty that is easy to define and in my opinion easy to solve, but the problem with this is if we define poverty in a broader sense that encompasses the whole human experience then the problem becomes much more complex. If we have food, but no hope are we not poor in spirit?

I believe Singer’s arguments are strong at first glance, but not nuanced enough to be “practical.” It is nice to say I want to end world hunger if you are running for Miss America, but we need a more in depth understanding of what it means to be a “poor” individual and how to solve it.

Thomas (Nha) Tran

Singer describes very effectively what is going on in today’s world concerning poverty and famine. People that live in the Western world tend to have greater availability to food when this shouldn’t be the case. Peter Singer says that there is plenty of food to go around to feel everyone in this world, but the West wastes much of it. This theory makes sense in that the western countries do tend to be more prosperous and therefore can afford import large amounts of produce, sometimes more than needed. Coming from the third world country I know how hard it is to find three meals a day for a family with ten members. The third world countries are left with whatever they can afford and even then, it does not suffice the whole population. They do not have a lot of natural resources even through they work so hard. I remember in 1985, in Vietnam, I was about 8 at the time. The country was in famine after the communist took over the country. As a kid, I had no idea what was going on, but there was one thing I knew, that was we did not have food to eat or clean water to drink. Look at the world around us. Famine is widespread in Africa. I think that the problem of famine will never be resolved to our expectations. There will always be an inequality because that’s the way our world functions. The imbalance is what keeps our world stable.

In this article, Singer brings to light the harsh reality concerning poverty facing this planet. He points out that a fifth of this world’s population live in absolute poverty where there is not enough income to provide for food, clothing and shelter. Singer then provides reasons why most people believe that it is not immoral to continue living without attempting to help the needy. I think most of Singer’s argument makes sense logically and that we should be helping out the poor. But this results in a socialist society because we would be obliged to donate “what we consider to of comparable moral value to the poverty we can prevent.” For a moral person this would mean to donate everything until we are reduced to just the basic necessitates. Even someone like Mother Teresa dedicates her life for the sake of the poorest of the poor. I have the opportunity to work with the men homeless shelter in downtown Spokane. I am so impressed to receive the generous gifts, donations, times and talents to the poor and the needy.