I was first introduced to Peter Singer’s idea of altruistic poverty at Governor’s School. It suggests that to achieve social and economic equality, individuals have to give away all they have until they reach the poverty line. While trying to wrap my mind around this questionable solution to such a complex issue, I realize that my previous way of thinking had been so egocentric. If I gave everything unnecessary for my survival what would my life look like? However, as this idea unveiled my own inadequacies as an altruistic individual, I began to wonder why capitalism does not encourage this altruism from all economic classes.…
Manila is a pollution-ridden metropolis. The dissipated smog, contributed by diesel run cars, masks the sky, forcing all sorts of chemicals down the lungs. Garbage is all around, and a seemingly abundant river has been filled to its deepest depths with it. Along with the putrid smells, come the pitiful sights of slums where there hundreds of thousands of people reside. They inhabit shanties comprised of pieces of scrap metal that serve as their roof and walls. In one of these slums, lives a nine-year-old girl named Angela. Everyday she walks through the bustling streets of Metro Manila waiting for cars to halt by the stoplights. She sells homemade necklaces made with the Sampaguita flower, and she also asks for donations to be put into her plastic cup that…
Have you ever thought that you are happier than many children in the world? On the other hand, they do not have enough good conditions to live and develop themselves, including poverty. How will they struggle for their lives with their small hands? They probably need our help to rescue them out of danger. “The Singer Solution to World Poverty”, which is written by Peter Singer, is a solution to save children's lives. Singer persuades the reader to participate in helping children who lack food, get many diseases, and do not have good living conditions. His argument is that all of us should contribute to saving the children’s lives According to “The Singer Solution to World Poverty”, this solution totally has the ability to be done by our help; however, I am not completely persuaded that I will help children by following Single’s solution.…
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 calculates that “$200 in donations would help a sickly 2-year-old transform into a healthy 6-year-old” (Singer 2). No one would say that spending money to help a child in need is wasteful; however, preserving the child’s life would not save it from poverty. The child would be alive, but it would still grow up poor and uneducated, and, in all likelihood, its children would be the same. Singer’s solution for poverty is, in all actuality, not a solution at all. His ideas would be great for lowering the fatality rate due to malnourishment or diseases, but he gives no solution to adequately deliver the world from poverty. Donating to children-saving charities, while honorable, does not do much in fixing the problem at hand, worldwide…
Peter Singer brings to light a very important global problem, poverty, and offers an extreme solution to solve this problem. Peter Singer argues that the solution to world poverty is living simply and giving all excess household money to charities. Singer uses effective examples to get his point across, but gives an unreasonable solution. He gives the example that the failure to donate money will directly result in the death of children in need. "Whatever money you're spending on luxuries, not necessities, should be given away." (Singer)…
In his article “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” Peter Singer outlines his argument for helping those in need in the global community. His main argument is that humans can stop suffering based on our moral decisions.1 Singer calls for the definition of ‘charity’ in our society to have moral implications. People should give governmental and privately. all need to give to charity and all at the same time.…
The real-world application of Singer’s argument is no doubt difficult to implement, but that cannot be considered a fault due to unreasonable demand. Personal discomfort is to be expected, as Singer’s view on moral obligations and global poverty is uncompromisingly utilitarian. Nevertheless, a minor monetary inconvenience for the affluent should be considered relatively insignificant when compared to the incalculable value of a human life. As there are no major inconsistencies to be seen in Singer’s argumentative framework as a whole, there is merit in accepting his position on the moral obligations towards the global…
In Peter Singer's "The Singer Solution to World Poverty" Singer is describing to us in his story that everyone should give up their money to save a child's life. In that statement, its not completely fair that we have to give away our hard earned money to help out kids. Think of it as this, lets say he put one in this type of situation, what would one think about it? Yes, it does make sense that one should help out and lend some money to help the children out, but not all of the money we've worked hard for to get. Finally with all this, one does not agree with Singer's proposal, its not fair that we have to give away our hard earned money to help out kids lives.…
For those who frightened much to abandon their life, goals, projects and interests in order to save one’s life, say goodbye to righteousness. In “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, also in “ the life you can save”, Peter Singer tries to show that we human beings have a moral obligation to give far more than we actually do for excessive and tragic situations such as famine and disaster relief. According to singer, Giving, sharing and helping the needy is more than moral happiness and inner satisfaction, it is a moral duty. As he state his argument in three premises, “1, suffering and death from the lack of food, shelter and medical care are bad, (2), if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening,…
Writer Peter Singer’s article “The Solution to World Poverty” develops a persuasive argument to encourage and make people understand the importance of donating to help save kids life within their means, Singer adopts a guilt-ridden tone in order to sway the audience into donating money to help the kids of Brazil. Singer achieve his purpose through the use of imagery, syntax, and rhetorical questions. Singer beings his article by describing a Brazilian film in where a homeless boy is persuade into going to an address where he will be killed for his organs however the Woman who took him there did not know about the final result for the boy instead she was more drawn into the money that she would receive. When telling the story Singer uses parenthesis…
In Singer’s paper, he argues that we are all obligated to help children in poverty. He explains how we should donate the money that we use on unnecessary items. To back up his argument, he uses two examples. In the first example, Singer explains a scene from the Brazilian film Central Station. The scene involves a retired school teacher who delivers a 9 year old boy for $1000, which she uses to buy a new TV.…
In Peter Singer’s “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” he argues that when people abroad are suffering or dying from lack of food, shelter or medicine, it is wrong for people here to spend money on morally unimportant things rather than giving money to help (Hughes). This means that we have a moral obligation to do what we can to alleviate the stress of poverty abroad if it does not do any harm to us helping them. If we are able to benefit people abroad, we should do so. Food, shelter, and quality healthcare are things that should be seen as basic necessities; therefore, not only do we have a moral obligation to help those abroad in need, but we should also have the want to help those in need. Although Singer asserts this claim, he does identify…
Based on the article by Peter Singer entitled Famine, Affluence, and Morality, he attempts to move us to do more for charities and gives one astounding example. He uses starving children in Bengali and a drowning child.…
The author, being both a scholar and a philosopher, has a smooth writing style, and it shows. He invokes just the right amount of inquiry, logic, and writes with such an authority that it becomes easy to not question both his statistics and the evidence he either omitted, or did not realize. Due to this, Singer’s argument itself is markedly effective, making it is easy to feel compelled from the points he makes, and the illustrations he uses. He invokes strong feelings of guilt, and assigns a social liability for the welfare of those less fortunate, but his support is ultimately less than pragmatic. While Singer’s intentions are pure, and to such a degree are worth of some merit, simple logically analysis of much of his deductively supported report shows his solution is impractical. This is not to say Singer is not on to something, indubitably his opinion has many good components, and following his advice certainly can do much good, but conclusively I can not accept it as a ‘solution’ to world poverty, and his efforts would likely be more valuable directed towards more specific…