Analysis of “The Singer Solution To World Poverty” Essay

In a piece by Peter Singer entitled, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” Singer argues that Americans should prevent atrocious situations to arise but, we also should not sacrifice something of equal importance while doing so. Moreover, in the piece by John Arthur, “World Hunger and Moral Obligation: The Case Against Singer,” Arthur disagrees with Singer; he believes that we should help the poverty-stricken but, it is not morally imperative to do so.

Singer argues that we should give only ten percent of our annual income to charitable organizations in order to alleviate global suffering. This isn’t hard Singer proposes because it means cutting out everything that’s not required for preservation of life and health. He argues that this is not a sacrifice, given that we aren’t losing anything of comparable moral importance. Singer fixates on the fact that when we choose to spend our money on going out for fancy dinners, or purchase luxury goods, we are not living “morally decent

In Pete Singer’s article, The Singer Solution to World Poverty, he describes several scenarios where people are put in a situation to choose between helping other people by giving money or giving it up over keeping it for yourself. Singer says that we shouldn’t be spending money on nonessential items but only for necessities. He also tells us that we should feel guilty for not helping or saving others and should be heading in the right direction. Finally, he says it is immoral for us to not donate money or to sacrifice something less valuable to save the lives of others. I strongly disagree with what he says and think he is overdoing it with what he says and he expects us to feel the same way on his stance which is wrong.

In the introductory paragraph, Singer uses Dora to initiate an immediate emotional response to the essay. Dora “persuade[s] a 9year-old boy to follow her”. He is unknowingly sold to organ peddlers. When Dora realizes that she has made a mistake which weighs heavily on her conscience, she quickly recovers the child. Singer uses this dramatized situation to draw upon the reader’s values and more importantly their emotions. His use of a poverty-ridden child throughout the essay has a

In the reading, “The Solution to World Poverty” by Peter Singer argues that the importance of donating to organizations can help the needy and it’s beneficial to less fortunate children. He illustrates this thought through examples found in a Brazilian film and a book published in The New York Times. Peter Singer wrote the article in order to reach out to and persuade readers to donate. He relies on his knowledge and experience as a utilitarian philosopher and his ability to link the audience’s emotions for the sick and dying children to create a solution that will breakdown the issues displayed in household incomes and their necessities.

Singer’s argument to world famine is giving charity is neither charitable nor generosity, but it’s an obligation to give money out and if you don’t, then it’s morally wrong. He states we as individuals have a duty to help reduce poverty and death because of starvation. Singer argues, suffering and death due to the lack of food, is terrible. Hence we have the power to help those group of people. By that, people can cut down the famine and suffering by giving famine relief and in doing so, we as individuals have to give a certain amount of money from our standard of living. This fails to recognize people’s own intrinsic moral values because Singer says we must always make the morally best decision.

Peter Singer approaches the issue of world poverty from a utilitarian perspective. In his work Rich and Poor, he argues that if something is bad, and we have power to prevent it from happening without sacrificing anything of comparable moral significance, then we ought to take actions to prevent the bad thing from happening.

Peter Singer provides the specific number, $200, to demonstrate how 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 helpless child. 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 that, “if you were to give up dining out just for one month, you would easily save that amount.” Singer emphasises this to show the reader how simple it is to save $200, and, more importantly, save a child’s life. By repeating this number multiple times, following with, “to save a child’s life,” throughout his essay, Singer implies a reasonable yet urgent tone in order to convince the reader that if they donate, they will save a

Singer's solution to the world poverty is one of the best suggestion ever made, and if implemented to the letter, poverty will be a thing of the past in the next five years. There is too much wealth amongst the few, and if those owning much can agree to share their wealth with the less fortunate in the world without discrimination, then the world will be a better place to live in (Rahman). In as much as I agree that there is a moral duty to help the less fortunate in the society, there are millions of other ethical responsibilities which carries the same weight if not more than the moral obligation of helping the poor in the world.

Peter Singer’s central idea focuses around how grim death and suffering from lack of food, shelter and medical care really is. He further argues that if we can prevent something this unfortunate from happening, without sacrificing anything morally significant, we ought to do it. In other words, as privileged citizens, we ought to prevent all of the death and suffering that we can from lack of food, shelter and medical care from happening by giving our money and resources to charity (Chao, 2016, in-class discussion). In the terms of this argument, death and suffering from poverty are preventable with the

Left hungry, cold and clueless those in poverty have less control of their situation when their country cannot sustain a government. The issue cannot be solved by throwing money at the problem to figure itself out. People in wealthy countries may fall below the line of poverty, but never feel true helplessness. Unbelievably in 2012, 316.23 billion dollars were contributed to charities by individuals, corporations, and foundations across America. A stunning 72 percent of the contributions came from individuals, so how else can people be involved as a nation and reduce global poverty. Peter Singer graduate of Oxford University and chair of ethics at Princeton University suggest everyone should live a simple lifestyle without extravagant expenses or daily pleasures. Attempts to lead people into a guilt trip for lack of donations. His assumptions of giving money to the poor will not solve the problem as they are not educated to harvest for themselves. Most of the help is sending food, but an alternative can be to spend time with locals so they can be taught

We all heard countless solutions on how to solve world poverty. In Peter Singer’s article “Rich and Poor”, he discusses how he thinks this problem can be fixed. Singer claims that we all have a responsibility to support people who are in extreme need and are suffering from absolute poverty. Singer believes that poverty could be fixed if people give up their luxuries and give the money that they spent on unnecessary things to those who are destitute. In Singer 's mind, we all have a duty to give until we are no longer able to, or until the problem with the world poverty will be solved. Singer feels that it is necessary for people who are more wealthy to help those who are less fortunate by donating money right away to organizations that help fight poverty. In his opinion, by not helping those in need we are negatively responsible for their suffering and thus failing to live a moral life.

In this section I will consider and summarise Singer’s argument for poverty. Singer’s argument about poverty is based on the idea of giving help no matter where the help is needed as it not moral to allow something bad to happen if it is preventable. One of Singer’s arguments relating to poverty is “we have a duty to reduce poverty and death simply because we can” (BBC, 2014), this idea of giving help can be applied to various situations not just poverty however this essay will only give examples and situations relating to poverty. Singer also states that “it makes no moral difference whether the person I can help is a neighbour's child ten yards from me or a Bengali whose name I shall never know, ten thousand miles away” (BBC, 2014), this quote form Singer shows that even though there may be no serious situations nearby you where you can help, there is still a lot of issues that need resolving by time commitment or donations, even though you can’t see

Singer talks about two different circumstances in the essay to support his idea and grabs the reader’s attention. The first one is about Dora the retired schoolteacher from the Brazilian movie “Central station.” Dora was barely getting by with working a side job, she received a chance to make a thousand dollars by bringing a homeless child to a location where he would be adopted by a rich family. After the homeless child was taken to the designated spot, Dora received the money and purchased a television. Later Dora found out that the child was too old for adoption. When Dora found out that the child would be killed and the

Most people today like to blow their money on items they do not need, such as video game systems and Netflix subscriptions for pleasure. In The Singer Solution to World Poverty, the author, Peter Singer, disappoints the reader’s concern of world poverty by downgrading American morals, that they hold onto their money for satisfaction, and by stating they are selfish and do not care about world poverty. Singer first gets the attention of the reader by talking about Dora and the disheartening facts of world poverty, but he states ridiculous fallacies and demands people to donate all of the money they do not necessarily need. For instance, Singer talks about the Brazilian film, Central Station, and how it compares to the ethics of Americans.