Analysis Of Famines, Affluence, And Morality By Peter Singer

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Recommended: In Peter Singer's article, Famine, affluence, and morality, he argues that

In his article, “Famines, Affluence, and Morality”, Peter Singer (1972) discusses morality and our moral obligation towards helping those suffering. He sheds light on a lot of problems in the way of life that we currently lead. The article opens by introducing us to the famine situation in Bengal, which has left millions suffering due to the lack of food, shelter and medical care. (Singer, p. 229). Singer’s main argument, which consists of 3 premises, draws up the conclusion that affluent people int he world, who have more than sufficient to meet their essential needs and spend on trivial luxuries such as expensive clothes, cars, etc. should instead re-direct this extra income towards relieving, if not elimination entirely, the suffering of the people in Bengal, or anywhere really. In what follows, I will examine Singer’s argument and expound on the objections raised against his seemingly sound conclusion. Further, I will also discuss my only objection to Singer’s argument and briefly outline our traditional moral categories.

The first premise in Singer’s argument states “that suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad.” (Singer, p. 231). This premise is quite straight forwards and would seem apparent to anyone able to distinguish between right and wrong. Singer sees no reason in defending it. Assuming everyone agrees to the first premise, Singer goes on then to suggest “if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we morally, ought, to do it.” (Singer, p. 235) While this second premise might also seem straightforward and uncontroversial, it is by far the trickiest and most ambitious of them all. This premise is g...

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... aiding the suffering people in third world countries like Bengal, that it captures the reader’s attention. While I believe Singer’s suggestion, that affluent people must donate all they can to the verge of almost starving themselves, is rather extreme, absurd and counter productive, I also think the essay serves a greater purpose, which is to help affluent people realise how much they take for granted, and how much of their wasted money can be used to prevent people from starving. It can be understood that although most of Singer’s premises sound good in a perfect Marxist society, in a realistic world, most people are greedy and only work to better themselves. The fact that we live in a 0.6% world (0.6% of the world population holds most of global assets, thus making them the richest 0.6%) is evidence enough to conclude that this is a self-improvement driven world.

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