Rhetorical Analysis Of The Singer Solution To World Poverty

Singer’s Solution to World Poverty.

“The Singer Solution to World Poverty” is an article by Peter Singer which presents a compelling argument for the American people to take responsibility in addressing the global poverty issue. Though Singer employs a variety of rhetorical strategies such as ethos, pathos, and logos to strengthen his argument, Singer fails to persuade the American people to his side, instead alienating his audience due to his extreme use of pathos and a lack of adequate ethos and logos.

Throughout the article,. Singer uses extreme hypothetical scenarios which fail to inspire genuine charitable action from the reader. For example, Singer states, “For one thing, to be able to consign a child to death when he is standing right in front of you takes a chilling kind of heartlessness” (Singer Solution to World Poverty). Singer oversimplifies the issue of world poverty, instead opting to use emotional manipulation and shock value to get his point across to the audience. Despite Singer being a renowned philosopher and ethicist, he does not command a respectable amount of ethos.
The examples that he uses are too extreme and causes the audience to feel guilty, which does not effectively persuade the audience to his argument. Singer writes, “If we don't do it, then we should at least know that we are failing to live a morally decent life - not because it is good to wallow in guilt but because knowing where we should be going is the first step toward heading in that direction” (Singer Solution to World Poverty). This kind of approach to his argument fails to resonate with the readers, rather, it causes discomfort and guilt, but does not make the reader want to