1 / 11

SINGER

SINGER. YOU GOTTA GIVE UNTIL IT HURTS. PETER SINGER (born 1946). Author of Animal Liberation 1975 And 32 other books on ethics & related topics Started Great Ape Project. [Michael Bakunin 1814-76]. “Property is theft.” Rich, noble family. Russia still had serfs.

fritz
Download Presentation

SINGER

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. SINGER YOU GOTTA GIVE UNTIL IT HURTS

  2. PETER SINGER (born 1946) Author of Animal Liberation 1975 And 32 other books on ethics & related topics Started Great Ape Project

  3. [Michael Bakunin 1814-76] “Property is theft.” Rich, noble family. Russia still had serfs. Went to Moscow in 1835 to study philosophy. Also: “the passion for destruction is a creative passion” “[labor] must be sole basis of right and economic organization of the state.”

  4. [Michael Bakunin 1814-76]

  5. Main Argument: Premises Premise 1 Suffering and death due to poverty is bad. 679 Premise 2 If we can prevent something bad (without incurring equally bad loss), then we ought to do so. 679

  6. Main Argument: Conclusions SO (“Strong” & “the correct one”): We ought to give to the poor till we are just as poor. 684 SO (“Moderate”): We must give till we lose something morally significant. 684

  7. Main Example If we see a child drowning in a shallow pond, we ought to save the child, even if we get our clothes muddy [or miss Phil class]. 679

  8. Main Corollary Our morals and way of life must be altered. 679 What we think of as charity must be seen as obligatory. 681-2 Normal moral categories: prohibited / permitted / obligatory(=duty) / supererogatory(= above duty). Urmson, “Saints and Heroes” (1958)

  9. Details 1. Distance is irrelevant 679 2. Numbers of people obligated is irrelevant 679-80 3. [“Kantian” objection]: If everyone gave a lesser amount, the problem would be solved, so I am obliged only to give the lesser amount. 680

  10. Details 4. St. Thomas & St. Ambrosius “The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry; the clothing you shut away, to the naked….” 683 5. “…overseas aid should be a government responsibility.” 683-4 6. We must have population control first, or else we just postpone starvation. 684

  11. Details 7. Though “The value and necessity of economic growth are now being questioned not only by conservationists but by economists too…there must be a limit to the extent to which we should deliberately slow down our economy.” 684 [cf. Adam Smith 1723-1790]

More Related