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Essay on Singers Solution to World Poverty

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The writer behind “Singers Solution to World Poverty” advocates that U.S. citizens give away the majority of their dispensable income in order to end global suffering. Peter Singer makes numerous assumptions within his proposal about world poverty, and they are founded on the principle that Americans spend too much money on items and services that they do not need. Singer uses some extreme methods in order to achieve his goal of getting readers to truly believe in his ideas and change their values and lifestyles. He uses an informal and conversational tone in this article and he demonstrates his views in an emotional manner by giving several illustrations. The author’s main point is that it is morally wrong for affluent people to spend…show more content…
Bob decides to take a walk so he parks his Bugatti by some nearby railroad tracks. In the distance he sees an out of control train flying down the tracks toward a child. Bob has to make a critical decision. He can redirect the train away from the child by flipping a switch, but by doing so his Bugatti will be destroyed in the process. Bob decides not to flip the switch and save his Bugatti. As a consequence of his decision, the child dies. According to Singer, Bob was wrong in choosing his Bugatti over the child, and most people would agree with Singer. Singer feels Bob was wrong for placing the love of a material object over that of the life of a child. The author tries to drive home the point that Bob’s situation is no different from our own. If we were to give up some of our luxuries, we could save the lives of starving children, and by not doing so, we are just as guilty as Bob. Therefore, according to Singer, we are not living up to our moral standards. The problem with this situation is that it is unique. In Bob’s scenario he was the only one who could make a difference, but in reality this is not the case. Bob could have sacrificed his prized Bugatti by throwing the switch, but instead he chose to forfeit a child’s life. To most people what Bob did was wrong. Nevertheless, is what Bob did morally wrong? Lets look at what that car represented to Bob. To Bob that car
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