Peter Singer’s Famine, Affluence, and Morality is a philosophical stance on how modern society may and should reconsider its definition of moral obligation. The narrative centers around the 1971 crisis in East Bengali, where, at the time, nine million people were suffering from poverty, lack of housing, and life uncertainty (Singer, 1972, p. 229). Looking back at the situation taking place in a developing country, the author contemplates how other nations react to the crisis and reaches a conclusion that national leaders, while spending money on seemingly insignificant investments in the infrastructure, assume that it is not their responsibility to save millions of people from a slow and painful death.
Based on this example, Singer outlines the primary thesis of the essay. It says: “if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, do it” (Singer, 1972, p. 231). Hence, he implies that doing one’s best to help should depend neither on distance nor on the number of people who could assist. The example Singer provides is saving a child in a pond, implying that it does not matter whether this child is somebody you know or whether there is anyone else around to help. The ultimate decision to help is one’s duty to prevent something terrible from happening. This example, thus, extrapolates to world politics and emphasizes the importance of doing anything one could to minimize the bad of the world.
In order to do so, in Singer’s opinion, people should reevaluate their definitions of duty and charity. As long as helping nations like East Bengali is regarded as “supererogatory,” people will pursue ignorance in favor of their well-being (Singer, 1972, p. 237). However, if preventing something bad from happening becomes a duty to save humanity, the paradigm changes dramatically. Hence, the primary outcome of the essay is that when it comes to helping others in need, proximity and other people’s actions should by no means affect one’s duty to contribute.
Reference
Singer, P. (1972). Famine, affluence, and morality. Philosophy and Public Affairs 1(3), 229-243.