Essay on extreme poverty
Essay on extreme poverty In your essay you should first explain Singer’s utilitarian principle (The Greatest Happiness Principle or the principle of maximization). Does his theory imply that we have a duty to help people who live in a condition of extreme poverty? What is morally relevant to discuss, according to Singer? Hint: Singers example of the drowning child is supposed to work as an analogy that can help us answer the question if we have such an obligation. However, it is also Singers point that the analogy does not depend on a consequentialist theory. After your description of his theory and his view on our duty to assist people who live in a condition of extreme poverty you should discuss the distinction between negative and positive rights. The doctrine of the correlativity of rights and duties will clarify the difference between negative and positive rights: if somebody has a right, somebody else has a corresponding duty. If you have a right to food, then somebody else has a duty to help you provide the food. The question is what this duty implies: to assist you in providing the food or not to interfere in your efforts on providing the food yourself. Does Singer believe in both positive and negative rights? Please give reasons for your answer. The last part of your essay is your chance to discuss Singers claim that we have a duty to give more charity and a duty to develop a policy that will relieve famine and starvation in poor countries. Would all utilitarians agree with Singer? Would his recommendations threaten our economic system? Why, why not? If it would, what would be most important for Singer: our obligation to relieve absolute poverty or maintain a free market economy where people are free to make their own decisions? Does the United Nations goal of ending poverty in 2015 and their political efforts answer Singers demand for a relief program? You can read more about the United Nations policy on their website http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ There is a good source of information about ethics in Stanford encyclopedia. Their website address is: http://plato.stanford.edu/ I will recommend that you read Writing Philosophy Papers, p.15-17, before you write your paper. The article explains what we expect from a philosophy paper. The essay should be 400-500 words. The relevant readings: Peter Singer: Famine, Affluence, and Morality, p.495-503.
